***************************************************************** 09/25/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.226 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Daily Events Report 2 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Tuesday, September 25, 2001 3 Taiwan: Construction of fourth nuclear plant two years behind 4 NRC investigates siren boxes at Pennsylvania plants - 5 NRC finds safety violation at Md. Calvert Cliffs nuke 6 Closure of Dutch nuclear plant postponed - paper 7 Russia holds talks on storage and processing of foreign nuclear 8 Construction of Russian nuclear plant may resume after two 9 Revealed: nuclear fission's debt to Mrs Mop 10 Deadly terror of A-plant jet raid 11 IAEA demands "three-phase inspection" of North Korean nuclear 12 NRC Receives Application from Tva to Produce Tritium at Watts Bar 13 NRC Reacts to Terrorist Attacks 14 Experts say state nuclear plants are safe 15 Nuclear Hyperbole 16 Goshutes Hold Election, But No One Declared a Winner Yet 17 Utah Says N-Waste Proposal Isn't Legal 18 Protection of Czech air base, nuclear plant strenghtened 19 Yucca law firm remains silent on conflict probe 20 Daily Events Report 09/ 21 24 21 Warning on plan for Sellafield MOX plant 22 State's nuclear plants safe, officials say 23 Nuclear security lax - 24 Attacks bring halt to cross-country shipments of nuclear fuel 25 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Monday, September 24, 2001 26 Local paper unearths unattended nuclear waste storage in central 27 Letter: Good reason to stop nuke shipment - Ron Bourgoin 28 NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards to Meet October 4 -6 29 NRC to Discuss Emergency Preparedness Issues, Improvements 30 Radioactive red ink NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Nuclear Experts Worry About Pakistan 2 Las Vegas among cities developing responses to terrorism 3 Father of Neutron Bomb: Use It on Osama 4 Bin Laden claims Islamic rights over Pak N-bombs 5 Bush must beware of Asia's nuclear rivalry - 6 DOE to develop plan for conversion facilities; work would be done 7 EPA begins latest environmental sampling project in Oak Ridge 8 INTERVIEW - Nuclear materials difficult for terrorists to use 9 Russia: More problems for Kursk divers reported 10 U.S. Navy Bomb Practice at Vieques 11 Cleaning Up After Chemical & Nuclear Warfare 12 LV plan for dealing with terrorist attack's after... 13 Bush Must Warn Rogue States of Nuclear Retaliation 14 Nuclear Security chief visits Y-12 15 Land-use group to meet Friday 16 Department of Energy Announces Major Effort to Use High 17 Embassy staff withdrawn - **************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Daily Events Report U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Operations Center Event Reports For 09/24/2001 09/25/2001 ** EVENT NUMBERS ** 38308 38309 38310 38311 38312 38313 Power Reactor Event Number: 38308 FACILITY: NINE MILE POINT REGION: 1 NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/24/2001 UNIT: [1] [] [] STATE: NY NOTIFICATION TIME: 05:55[EDT] RXTYPE: [1] GE 2,[2] GE 5 EVENT DATE: 09/24/2001 EVENT TIME: 04:55[EDT] NRC NOTIFIED BY: LAURIE RAYLE LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/24/2001 HQ OPS OFFICER: FANGIE JONES PERSON ORGANIZATION EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY JAMES LINVILLE R1 10 CFR SECTION: ACOM 50.72(b)(3)(xiii) LOSS COMM/ASMT/RESPONSE UNIT SCRAM CODERX CRITINIT PWR INIT RX MODE CURR PWR CURR RX MODE 1 N Y 100 Power Operation 100 Power Operation EVENT TEXT LOSS OF PROMPT NOTIFICATION TONE ALERT RADIO FOR GREATER THAN 1 HOUR The licensee received a call at 0504 EDT from the Oswego County Warning Point that the Oswego County Prompt Notification Tone Alert Radio had been out of service for greater than 1 hour as of 0455 EDT. The cause of the outage is unknown and is being investigated. The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector. See event #38309 Power Reactor Event Number: 38309 FACILITY: FITZPATRICK REGION: 1 NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/24/2001 UNIT: [1] [] [] STATE: NY NOTIFICATION TIME: 10:03[EDT] RXTYPE: [1] GE 4 EVENT DATE: 09/24/2001 EVENT TIME: 03:55[EDT] NRC NOTIFIED BY: HALLIDAY LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/24/2001 HQ OPS OFFICER: CHAUNCEY GOULD PERSON ORGANIZATION EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY FRANK COSTELLO R1 10 CFR SECTION: ACOM 50.72(b)(3)(xiii) LOSS COMM/ASMT/RESPONSE UNIT SCRAM CODERX CRITINIT PWR INIT RX MODE CURR PWR CURR RX MODE 1 N Y 100 Power Operation 100 Power Operation EVENT TEXT LOSS OF PROMPT NOTIFICATION TONE ALERT RADIO FOR GREATER THAN 1 HOUR At 0504 the licensee received notification that Oswego County Prompt Notification System Tone Alert Radio was out of service at 0355 and remained out of service for>1 hour from 0455 onward. The Sheriff department was contacted by Oswego County Emergency Operations Center for alternate alerting methods. The National Weather Service is addressing the reason for the Tone Alert Radios being out of service and will provide a return to service time to the Oswego County EOC. The NRC Resident Inspector was notified. See event #38309 * * * UPDATE 1235EDT ON 9/24/01 FROM DAVE POULAN TO S. SANDIN * * * The Tone Alert Radio was restored to service at 1200EDT. The licensee will inform the NRC resident inspector. Notified R1DO(Costello). Research Reactor Event Number: 38310 FACILITY: REED COLLEGE NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/24/2001 RXTYPE: 250 KW TRIGA MARK I NOTIFICATION TIME: 15:16[EDT] COMMENTS: EVENT DATE: 09/24/2001 EVENT TIME: 11:35[PDT] LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/24/2001 CITY: PORTLAND REGION: 4 COUNTY: MULTNOMAH STATE: OR PERSON ORGANIZATION LICENSE#: R 112 AGREEMENT: Y GREG PICK R4 DOCKET: 05000288 MARVIN MENDONCA NRR NRC NOTIFIED BY: STEPHEN FRANTZ HQ OPS OFFICER: STEVE SANDIN EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR SECTION: NINF INFORMATION ONLY EVENT TEXT COURTESY CALL INVOLVING INDICATION OF A LEAKING FUEL ELEMENT A particulate airborne monitor measured Cs 137 and Rb 88 which is indication of a leaking fuel element. The reactor is currently shutdown. The licensee will identify which fuel element is leaking and remove it from service before restarting. The offsite dose consequence is minimal since the airborne activity is less than 10(E 12) microcuries/ml. The licensee will inform the NRR project manager. Power Reactor Event Number: 38311 FACILITY: CALLAWAY REGION: 4 NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/24/2001 UNIT: [1] [] [] STATE: MO NOTIFICATION TIME: 15:33[EDT] RXTYPE: [1] W 4 LP EVENT DATE: 09/24/2001 EVENT TIME: 12:30[CDT] NRC NOTIFIED BY: JOHN DAMPF LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/24/2001 HQ OPS OFFICER: STEVE SANDIN PERSON ORGANIZATION EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY GREG PICK R4 10 CFR SECTION: APRE 50.72(b)(2)(xi) OFFSITE NOTIFICATION UNIT SCRAM CODERX CRITINIT PWR INIT RX MODE CURR PWR CURR RX MODE 1 N Y 100 Power Operation 100 Power Operation EVENT TEXT OFFSITE NOTIFICATIONS TO VARIOUS AGENCIES DUE TO A SPILL OF SULFURIC ACID ONSITE "This 4 hour call is being made to the NRC based on the requirements of 10CFR50.72(b)(2)(xi). This is due to a chemical spill at the Callaway Plant requiring notification of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States Coast Guard National Response Center (USCGNRC) and Department of Natural Resources (DNR). "On 9/24/01, a sulfuric acid spill was discovered on the plant site. Initial estimates place the spill volume at two hundred gallons and requires notification of the EPA, USCGNRC, and DNR. It was concluded this event is reportable per 10CFR50.72(b)(2)(xi) due to notifications made to various governmental agencies. "The NRC Resident Inspector was notified of this event by the licensee." The sulfuric acid is 93% concentration and is used for treating cooling tower basin water. General Information or Other Event Number: 38312 REP ORG: RUTGERS UNIVERSITY NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/24/2001 LICENSEE: RUTGERS UNIVERSITY NOTIFICATION TIME: 16:40[EDT] CITY: NEW BRUNSWICK REGION: 1 EVENT DATE: 09/24/2001 COUNTY: STATE: NJ EVENT TIME: [EDT] LICENSE#: AGREEMENT: N LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/24/2001 DOCKET: PERSON ORGANIZATION JOHN KINNEMAN R1 ERIC LEEDS NMSS NRC NOTIFIED BY: PATRICK McDERMOTT HQ OPS OFFICER: STEVE SANDIN EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR SECTION: NINF INFORMATION ONLY EVENT TEXT POTENTIALLY MISSING/UNACCOUNTED FOR TRITIUM EXIT SIGN Rutgers University located in New Brunswick, NJ is conducting an investigation to determine whether a general license exit sign containing between 20 30 curies tritium was installed in the Chapel and, if so, is missing. Interviews of several individuals has provided conflicting information. A records search is in progress. The licensee informed NRC Region I (Ruland). Power Reactor Event Number: 38313 FACILITY: SALEM REGION: 1 NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/25/2001 UNIT: [1] [] [] STATE: NJ NOTIFICATION TIME: 03:39[EDT] RXTYPE: [1] W 4 LP,[2] W 4 LP EVENT DATE: 09/24/2001 EVENT TIME: 23:51[EDT] NRC NOTIFIED BY: JOSEPH PIERCE LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/25/2001 HQ OPS OFFICER: FANGIE JONES PERSON ORGANIZATION EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY JOHN KINNEMAN R1 10 CFR SECTION: ARPS 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) RPS ACTUATION CRITICA UNIT SCRAM CODERX CRITINIT PWR INIT RX MODE CURR PWR CURR RX MODE 1 M/R Y 100 Power Operation 0 Hot Standby EVENT TEXT MANUAL REACTOR TRIP DUE TO LOSS OF CIRCULATING WATER PUMPS The licensee reported that Salem Unit 1 manually tripped the reactor due to a loss of circulating water pumps, caused by a fault on the #2 station power transformer. The fault isolation caused loss of one of the required two off site power sources to both Salem units. Auxiliary feedwater started on low steam generator level after isolation of main feedwater due to the reactor trip. All system functioned as required. The unit is stable in Hot Standby and an investigation into the cause of the electrical disturbance is underway. Two of four reactor coolant pumps tripped when the unit was tripped, which is expected with the partial loss of off site power. Presently, the only major secondary equipment that is unavailable is associated with the loss of power to two of four non vital 4 Kv buses. There is one shutdown Technical Specification in effect and that is associated with having only one off site power source. The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector. ***************************************************************** 2 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Tuesday, September 25, 2001 State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects ADAMS - Items of Interest Recent Released Documents Added - Tuesday, September 25, 2001 These documents and others may be retrieved at the NRC PERR web site -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item ID: 012670349 Accession Number: ML012620021 Document Date: 3/13/97 Title: 03/13/1997 ARB Meeting Agenda re: RII-1996-A-0249, Watts Bar 1. Author Affiliation: NRC/RGN-II Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670077 Accession Number: ML012570270 Document Date: 8/15/00 Title: 08/15/2000, ComEd Slides presented at NRC OSRE Exit Meeting. Author Affiliation: Commonwealth Edison Co Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670249 Accession Number: ML012560246 Document Date: 9/21/01 Title: 08/16/2001 - Meeting Summary of Meeting with Nuclear Energy Institute Regarding Operator Licensing Issues Author Affiliation: NRC Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670247 Accession Number: ML012640508 Document Date: 9/20/01 Title: 08/16/2001 - Summary of Meeting with Nuclear Energy Institute Regarding Operator Licensing Issues Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670352 Accession Number: ML012620031 Document Date: 9/1/98 Title: 09/01/1998 Allegation Review Board Meeting. Author Affiliation: NRC/RGN-II Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670208 Accession Number: ML012490370 Document Date: 9/29/00 Title: 09/20/2000 Meeting Summary With Westinghouse Owners Group To Discuss RCP Seal Leakage Consensus Model For Use in PRA. Author Affiliation: Westinghouse Owners Group Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670283 Accession Number: ML012630193 Document Date: 9/20/01 Title: 09/20/2001, FRN, 10 CFR Part 63, Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Wastes in a Proposed Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Author Affiliation: NRC/OCIO/IRDMD/RMB Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670311 Accession Number: ML012640522 Document Date: 9/19/01 Title: 10/03/2001 Meeting w/NRC and United States Enrichment Corporation - Follow-up to August 22, 2001, Meeting Re: the Importance of Depleted Uranium. Author Affiliation: NRC/NMSS/FCSS/SPB Document/Report Number: ML012640522 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670146 Accession Number: ML012560300 Document Date: 9/14/01 Title: 10/03/2001 Meeting With Westinghouse Owners Group To Discuss Risk Informed Extensions To AC Electrical Power System Completion Times. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD4 Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670282 Accession Number: ML012640385 Document Date: 9/21/01 Title: 10/05/2001 Meeting with Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) to discuss technical & policy issues of mutual interest to NRC & NEI management. Author Affiliation: NRC/EDO Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670453 Accession Number: ML012670222 Document Date: 9/24/01 Title: 10/10/2001 - Notice of Public Meeting with the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and Other Stakeholders on the Physical Protection Significance Determination Process & Performance Indicators. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670341 Accession Number: ML012600465 Document Date: 12/19/96 Title: 12/19/1996 ARB Meeting re: RII-96-A-0249, Watts Bar. Author Affiliation: NRC/RGN-II Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670109 Accession Number: ML012600432 Document Date: 9/17/01 Title: 9/17/01 Letter to W.J. Sinclair, State of UT, Fr: P.H. Lohaus, RE: Response to Ltr. of a citizen of Utah concerning public and State participation in NRC action of the Utah Radiation Control Board Author Affiliation: NRC/STP Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670092 Accession Number: ML012560430 Document Date: 5/5/00 Title: A Letter to R Meserve from J Edwards in reference to Carolina Power & Light proposed expansion of it Shearon Harris Nuclear waste storage facility in Orange County, North Carolina. Author Affiliation: US Senate Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670258 Accession Number: ML012670040 Document Date: Title: EPA Region 2 correspondence to NRC and DOE. Author Affiliation: Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670107 Accession Number: ML012210292 Document Date: 9/14/01 Title: G20010254/LTR-01-0315-Letter to David Lochbaum re issuance of Notice of Enforcement Discretion to Detroit Edison for Fermi 2 and plant shutdowns at Perry Author Affiliation: NRC/Chairman Document/Report Number: CORR-01-0134 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670147 Accession Number: ML012570349 Document Date: 9/14/01 Title: N200100351; Memorandum to J. Craig from J. Greeves, Proposed Agenda Items for the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards and the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste. Author Affiliation: NRC/NMSS/DWM Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012670277 Accession Number: ML012640475 Document Date: 9/20/01 Title: OMB-3150-0000, "10 CFR Part 63, Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Wastes in Proposed Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada." Author Affiliation: NRC/OCIO/IMD/RMB Document/Report Number: ***************************************************************** 3 Taiwan: Construction of fourth nuclear plant two years behind schedule BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 25, 2001 Text of report by Maubo Chang carried in English by Taiwanese Central News Agency web site Taipei, 24 September: The four-month suspension in construction of the island's fourth nuclear plant has resulted in a two-year delay in its completion and tens of billions in New Taiwan dollars losses in postponement of its operation, according to Ouyang Min-sheng, chairman of the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Monday [24 September]. In a news conference called to release the results of the council's periodic inspection of the plant's construction seven months after the work on the plant was resumed, Ouyang said the construction has progressed only one per cent and the whole project is 18 months to two years behind schedule thus far. The plant was 33.81 per cent finished when the government abruptly announced that the project would be halted on 27 October, 2000 and is now 34.62 per cent finished. Although the government caved in to the pressure of the opposition-controlled legislature and announced the reinstatement of the plant on 14 February, construction didn't resume immediately because of time-consuming negotiations with some 90 contractors on compensation and the resumption of work, Ouyang said. The General Electric Co., which was contracted to design the whole plant, didn't restart its work until July when talks on compensation for the disruption was concluded, according to the AEC. Taiwan Power Co., which owned the plant, estimated the additional compensation caused by the four-month halt in construction to be 3.4bn New Taiwan dollars (100m US dollars). The postponement will translate into a delay of commercial operation of the plant - 18 months for the proposed first unit and two years for the second unit, and a loss in revenue of 10bn New Taiwan dollars (294.11m US dollars). Despite the slowness in building, Ouyang said his council was satisfied with the quality of the construction in terms of the strength of the iron bars and the iron plates used in the shielding of the reactor. The construction site remained largely intact during Typhoon Nari, which barrelled through the island last weekend and wrought havoc on the island, a fact, Ouyang said, that bore witness to the quality of the construction. Source: Central News Agency web site, Taipei, in English 2239 gmt 24 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material ***************************************************************** 4 NRC investigates siren boxes at Pennsylvania plants - ENN.com Monday, September 24, 2001 By Sean Adkins, York Daily Record, Pa. DELTA, Penn. -- John Baldwin can clearly recognize the sound of a warning siren from a nuclear power plant. The Delta resident, and many others living within miles of York County's Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, rely on the sirens as an alert to a nuclear-related emergency. "I hear them almost every week," Baldwin said. "I can look from my farm and see men working on lines near the siren boxes." But falsified maintenance records pertaining to several siren boxes near Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station and Limerick Generating Station in Montgomery County has resulted in an investigation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Exelon Generation Co. owns and operates three Pennsylvania plants, including one unit at Three Mile Island in Dauphin County, two units at Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station and two at Limerick Generating Station. In September 2000, the NRC's Office of Investigation determined that between November 1999 and September 2000, two former Exelon Infrastructure Services maintenance technicians did not complete required steps in more than 60 siren checklist reports. The two contracted technicians performed inadequate siren tests while professing that all activities on the siren maintenance checklists were properly done, said Neil Sheehan, spokesperson for NRC. One of the technicians admitted to installing jumper wires in nearly 10 of the siren boxes surrounding both plants. The jumper wires worked to give false signals that the boxes were functioning properly. "This is a very serious concern," Sheehan said. "It's now up to them to prove to the NRC that the problems have been addressed." Since alerting the NRC to the problem in September 2000, Exelon Generation Co. has terminated the technicians and has hired new contractors, said Ralph DeSantis, spokesman for the company. The company has repaired the siren boxes and initiated a rigorous program for the hiring of contractors. "We inspect siren boxes daily, weekly and monthly," DeSantis said. "It's a very comprehensive program." The NRC has requested that Exelon Generation Co. attend an enforcement conference to explain how the repairs were made and if they were completed properly. The Oct. 1 conference has been closed to the public. "It gives them a chance to tell their side of the story," Sheehan said. "If repairs have not been completed, it could mean increased inspections at both plants." Copyright 2001, Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune ***************************************************************** 5 NRC finds safety violation at Md. Calvert Cliffs nuke Planet Ark Environmental News: Mail this story to a friend | Printer friendly version USA: September 24, 2001 NEW YORK - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) saidlast week it found a violation of NRC safety rules at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Maryland. The NRC, in a statement, characterized the findings as "yellow," meaning it is an issue of substantial importance to safety that will result in additional NRC inspection. The plant, located in Lusby, Md., is operated by Constellation Nuclear, a unit of diversified energy giant Constellation Energy Group Inc. of Baltimore. The violation is based on an NRC inspection conducted in June and July of this year that looked into the failure of an auxiliary feedwater pump during a test on May 16. The auxiliary feedwater system is a backup system that provides water to the plant's steam generators in the event the main feedwater system is lost. The NRC said its inspectors found Constellation workers failed to adhere to maintenance instructions during maintenance on the pump and applied too much sealant to the bearing housing, contaminating the bearing oil which resulted in the bearing failure. NRC officials classify certain conditions at nuclear power plants as being one of four colors which delineate increasing levels of severity. The findings begin with "green" and progress in severity to "white," "yellow" or "red." The NRC said the company has taken corrective action to correct the problem and the pump was tested satisfactorily. Story by Scott DiSavino REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS SEARCH Enter your keywords to search our news archive by subject. Type "Greenpeace", for example, into the box below and you will be given a listing of all Planet Ark's news and images relating to Greenpeace. © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication ***************************************************************** 6 Closure of Dutch nuclear plant postponed - paper Planet Ark Environmental News: NETHERLANDS: September 24, 2001 AMSTERDAM - Closure of the Netherlands' only operating nuclear power plant has been postponed for the time being pending the outcome of court hearings, a Dutch newspaper reported last week. Evening newspaper NRC Handelsblad said that electricity generator EPZ, which owns the 450 megawatt power station in Borssele, is contesting that it reached an agreement in 1994 with the Dutch government to close the plant. Under the contested deal the plant was to be closed in January 2004, but EPZ says it has permission to keep the plant open for an indefinite period. The government now has to prove to the court in hearings starting November 9 that an agreement was reached for closing the plant, the Netherlands' sole operating nuclear plant. Environmental activist group Greenpeace was quoted by the newspaper as saying it was unlikely the plant will be closed in January 2004 due to the risk of protracted legal wrangling. EPZ is owned by Dutch utilities Essent and Nutsbedrijven. The Dutch government was not immediately available to comment. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 7 Russia holds talks on storage and processing of foreign nuclear fuel BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 24, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax St Petersburg, 24 September: A governmental commission led by Academician Zhores Alferov has started negotiations on the possible storage and processing of used nuclear fuel in Russia, Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy Valeriy Lebedev has told the press. He made the statement at the Russian Industrialist-2001 Exhibition in St Petersburg on Monday [24 September]. Negotiations are being held, in particular, with Taiwan and Switzerland, Lebedev said. It is premature to speak about contracts. "The fight for the market in used nuclear fuel will be serious and last for years," Lebedev said. Russia is capable of processing 3bn-dollars' worth of used nuclear fuel from abroad. It has been treating used nuclear fuel for more than 25 years and has not had any accidents in the course of transportation and processing. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1236 gmt 24 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 8 Construction of Russian nuclear plant may resume after two decades on hold BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 24, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Chelyabinsk, 24 September: The construction of the South Urals nuclear power plant, which was suspended in the late 1980s, may resume in 2005. Chairman of the economic committee of the Chelyabinsk Regional administration Vladimir Dyatlov, told Interfax that the Regional authorities are discussing with the federal government the imminent resumption of the construction. The plant is to have three power units, each with a capacity of 800 MW. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 0833 gmt 24 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 9 Revealed: nuclear fission's debt to Mrs Mop Rory Carroll in Rome Monday September 24, 2001 The Guardian Sixty-seven years after an incident while she was mopping the floor of a Rome physics institute, Cesarina Marani and her buckets have been hailed for helping to usher in the atomic age. According to a new book, she inspired Enrico Fermi, one of the last century's greatest physicists, to overcome a hurdle to splitting the uranium atom, setting him on the road to building the first atom bomb a decade later in Los Alamos. As head of Rome's legendary physics institute on Via Panisperna, Fermi pioneered experiments in using neutrons to bombard different elements. But he could not harness their power because he could not find a way to predict then ensuing radiation levels. Mrs Marani's buckets contained the missing ingredient that stabilised the experiments - water. While she was mopping the tiles in a hallway she left three buckets under the desk of a researcher who was noted for producing anomalous results. Two colleagues spotted the buckets and, suspecting that they might be causing the anomalies, told Fermi. According to Enrico Fermi and the Buckets of Cesarina, he instantly recognised the solution to his own problem. Trying his experiment over a bucket of water, he found it made the neutrons' impact more powerful and consistent. Over the decades Fermi and his colleagues, now dead, were interviewed many times about the discovery, but never spoke of the role of Mrs Marani who also died some years ago. It was uncovered by two physicists, Fabio Cardone and Roberto Mignani, who revisited Fermi's experiments for a book marking the centenary of his birth, which falls this Saturday. They were told about the cleaner by Mario Berardo, the institute's retired caretaker, who witnessed the bucket experiment just before lunch on October 22 1934. Mrs Marani continued working at the institute until anonymous retirement while Fermi went on to fame, glory and a Nobel prize. He demonstrated that nuclear transformation occurred in almost every element subjected to neutron bombardment, opening the way to the discovery of slow neutrons, nuclear fission and the so-called B-decay theory. On the eve of the second world war Fermi fled to the US to save his Jewish wife from Mussolini's fascist regime. In 1944 he designed and built the first nuclear reactor in Chicago, before moving to the Los Alamos national laboratory in New Mexico to join the Manhattan project, which was building the first atomic bomb. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited ***************************************************************** 10 Deadly terror of A-plant jet raid Guardian Unlimited Observer | UK News | [UP] War on terrorism - Observer special Guardian Unlimited special: terrorism crisis Robin McKieand and Oliver Morgan Sunday September 23, 2001 The Observer Anti-aircraft batteries should be built at the Sellafield nuclear processing plant as a matter of extreme urgency, the author of a secret EU report on nuclear safety warned last week. The rupturing of the atom plant's tanks of lethally radioactive waste would cause more carnage than any other single act of terrorism could inflict on this country. Last week both main plants at the Cumbrian site were shut down after volumes of nuclear waste reached unacceptably high levels. The Sellafield tanks could spray up to two tonnes of deadly caesium-137 into the atmosphere if struck by a hijacked jumbo jet, states the report by Wise-Paris - the World Information Service on Energy. This compares with the 50lb of caesium released during the Chernobyl reactor blast in 1986. A successful attack on Sellafield could lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and leave large areas of Britain uninhabitable for decades. The director of Wise-Paris, Mycle Schneider, one of the report's authors, said: 'After what happened on 11 September, we know what terrorists are capable of. It is a question of calculating what the impact will be.' Sellafield's owners, British Nuclear Fuels, stressed that their buildings were capable of surviving a plane crash, but a source said: 'The plants are designed to withstand collisions with light aircraft or military planes, but not a commercial jet loaded with aviation fuel. The consequences could be unthinkable.' [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 ***************************************************************** 11 IAEA demands "three-phase inspection" of North Korean nuclear facilities BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 25, 2001 Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap Seoul, 25 September: An international nuclear watchdog is demanding North Korea comply with demands to inspect its reactors by next year at the latest, officials here said Tuesday [25 September]. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wants a three-phase inspection of North Korea's suspected nuclear facilities, starting with the 5MW experimental reactor in Yongbyon. The IAEA discussed the matter with the North in Pyongyang in May this year but has not received a positive response. The nuclear watchdog specifically wants to look at the 8,000-odd spent fuel rods from the Yongbyon reactor and at the isotope production research centre nearby. Inspection of the fuel rods is considered critical to determining whether the communist state has acquired enough plutonium to build nuclear weapons. "The United States also demands that Pyongyang complies with the IAEA inspections at least three to four years before it ships key components for the light water reactors being built in North Korea," an official said. The United States is one of the core members of an international consortium financing the construction of light water reactors in North Korea in exchange for a freeze on its suspected clandestine nuclear programme. Source: Yonhap news agency, Seoul, in English 0643 gmt 25 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 12 NRC Receives Application from Tva to Produce Tritium at Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant in Tennessee Press Release - 2001 - 111 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: Web Site: No. 01-111 September 21, 2001 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received an application from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to produce tritium at its Watts Bar nuclear power plant for use by the Department of Energy (DOE). The application specifically requests that TVA be permitted to install tritium-producing burnable absorber rods at the Watts Bar facility, located near Spring City, Tenn. The DOE has developed technology that would produce tritium using lithium, rather than boron, in burnable absorber rods to be installed in commercial pressurized-water nuclear reactors, such as Watts Bar. The irradiated rods would be removed from the power plant and shipped to the Savannah River Site, near Aiken, S.C., where DOE would extract the tritium. The license amendment would allow, for the first time, tritium production by a commercial nuclear reactor to ensure future tritium stockpiling for military use. The United States has not produced tritium -- a radioactive form of hydrogen used in the fusion stage of nuclear weapons -- since 1988, when DOE closed a special production facility at its Savannah River Site. Current short-term tritium needs are being met by recycling tritium from dismantled nuclear weapons. The Department of Energy is responsible for establishing the capability to produce tritium by the end of 2005, in accordance with a Presidential directive. The NRC staff held a public meeting on the issue in Rockville, Md., in February 1997, and in Sweetwater, Tenn., in August 1997 to provide an opportunity for public comment. The NRC staff determined in September 1997 that TVA could place 32 of the burnable absorber rods in the Watts Bar reactor core to test the technology. TVA irradiated the rods until the spring of 1999 and removed them from the reactor. The DOE shipped the rods to the Savannah River Site, examined them and confirmed that the technology worked. TVA's license amendment, if approved, would permit it to install 2,304 of the rods into the Watts Bar reactor and irradiate them for one fuel cycle, which lasts about 18 months. There will be an opportunity for interested persons to request a hearing on the amendment. TVA would remove the irradiated rods and the DOE would ship them to its tritium extraction facility at the Savannah River Site. TVA would subsequently install new rods in the reactor and continue the process for the life of the plant. A public meeting to discuss the tritium production and the NRC's process for reviewing the TVA license amendment request will be held in Evensville, TN., on the evening of October 2. A separate meeting notice will be issued. Another public meeting will be scheduled prior to completion of the agency's review of the application. The TVA Watts Bar application will be publicly accessible from the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public Electronic Room, and is expected to be available on NRC's web site sometime in September. Help in using ADAMS is available from the NRC Public Document Room at 301-415-4737 or 800-397-4209. ***************************************************************** 13 NRC Reacts to Terrorist Attacks Press Release - 2001 - 112 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA No. 01-112 September 21, 2001 In light of the recent terrorist attacks, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials and staff have been working around the clock to ensure adequate protection of nuclear power plants and nuclear fuel facilities. This has involved close coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, other intelligence and law enforcement agencies, NRC licensees, and military, state and local authorities. Immediately after the attacks, the NRC advised nuclear power plants to go to the highest level of security, which they promptly did. The NRC has advised its licensees to maintain heightened security. The agency continues to monitor the situation, and is prepared to make any adjustments to security measures as may be deemed appropriate. In view of the recent unprecedented events, Chairman Richard A. Meserve, with the full support of the Commission, has directed the staff to review the NRC's security regulations and procedures. A number of questions have come in from reporters and members of the public since the tragic events of September 11. The following questions and answers are offered in response: Q: What would happen if a large commercial airliner was intentionally crashed into a nuclear power plant? A:. Nuclear power plants have inherent capability to protect public health and safety through such features as robust containment buildings, redundant safety systems, and highly trained operators. They are among the most hardened structures in the country and are designed to withstand extreme events, such as hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes. In addition, all NRC licenses with significant radiological material have emergency response plans to enable the mitigation of impacts on the public in the event of a release. However, the NRC did not specifically contemplate attacks by aircraft such as Boeing 757s or 767s and nuclear power plants were not designed to withstand such crashes. Detailed engineering analyses of a large airliner crash have not yet been performed. Q: What measures have the NRC and its power plant licensees taken in face of this potential threat? A: Immediately after the attacks, the NRC advised licensees to go to the highest level of security, which all did promptly. The specific actions are understandably sensitive, but they generally included such things as increased patrols, augmented security forces and capabilities, additional security posts, heightened coordination with law enforcement and military authorities, and limited access of personnel and vehicles to the sites. Q: What, precisely, did the NRC do in response to the attacks? A: At 10 a.m. on September 11, the NRC activated its Emergency Operations Center in headquarters and assembled a team of top officials and specialists. The same was done in each of its four regional offices. In addition to communicating with its licensees about the need to go to the highest level of security, the NRC established communications with the FBI, the Department of Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, among others. NRC personnel were dispatched to the FBI's Strategic Information Operations Center. The NRC has also established close communications with nuclear regulators in Canada and Mexico. Q:What would happen if a large aircraft should crash into a spent fuel dry storage cask? A: The capacity of spent fuel dry storage casks to withstand a crash by a large commercial aircraft has not been analyzed. Nonetheless, storage casks are robust and must be capable of withstanding severe impacts, such as might occur during tornadoes, hurricanes or earthquakes. In the event that a cask were breached, any impacts would be localized. All spent fuel storage facilities have plans to respond to such an emergency, drawn up in consultation with local officials. Q: What if a large aircraft crashed into a spent fuel transportation cask in a heavily populated area? A: Again, the capacity of shipping casks to withstand such a crash has not been analyzed. However, they are designed to protect the public in severe transportation accidents. The cask must be able to withstand a 30-foot drop puncture test, exposure to a 30-minute fire at 1475 degrees Fahrenheit, and submersion under water for an extended period. Moreover, the location of loaded casks is not publicly disclosed and such a cask would present a small target to an aircraft . If an airliner crashed into a cask, there could be some localized impacts. Regulations require special accident response training of those involved in shipping, as well as coordination with state, local and tribal emergency response personnel. In addition, redundant communications must be maintained during shipment with the transporter vehicle; this would facilitate emergency response, if necessary. Q: Could such a crash into a nuclear power plant, or a storage or shipping cask trigger a nuclear explosion? A: No. Q: What are the consequences if an airliner crashed into a uranium fuel cycle facility? A: Because of the nature of the material, there would likely be only minimal off-site radiological consequences. Some such facilities use chemicals similar to those found at many industrial facilities. In the event of a release, comprehensive emergency response procedures would be immediately implemented. Q: Have nuclear power plants been subject to attack in the past? A: There has never been an attack on a nuclear power plant. On very rare occasions there have been intrusions. For example, there was a 1993 car crash through the gates of Three Mile Island plant by an individual with a history of treatment for mental illness. Such intrusions have not resulted in harm to public health or safety. Q: What are the normal security measures at commercial nuclear power plants. A: Licensees are required to implement security programs that include well-armed civilian guard forces, physical barriers, detection systems, access controls, alarm stations, and detailed response strategies. NRC routinely inspects security measures as part of its normal reactor oversight process and periodically undertakes various exercises, including force-on-force exercises, so as to assure that any vulnerabilities are exposed and corrected . Q: Is an attack using an airplane part of the NRC's design basis threat against which its licensees have to defend? A: No. The NRC has been in close and continuing contact with law enforcement and the military regarding such a threat. Q: What exactly is the so-called design basis threat? A: The details of the design basis threat are classified, but it includes the characteristics of a possible sabotage attempt that NRC licensees are required to protect against. The agency continually assesses the adequacy of the design basis threat in consultation with local law enforcement and federal intelligence agencies. Q:Is the NRC contemplating a modification of the design basis threat? A: The agency will continue to coordinate with law enforcement and intelligence agencies to assess the implications of this new manifestation of terrorism. If the NRC determines that the design basis threat warrants revision, such changes would occur through a public rulemaking. ***************************************************************** 14 Experts say state nuclear plants are safe The Post-Crescent Sat 22-Sept-2001 --> By Ed Culhane Post-Crescent staff writer The terrorist use of hijacked airliners to destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Center and breach the Pentagon, killing thousands of people, has raised concerns about the vulnerability of the nation's nuclear power plants. Amid the many reasons for rationalizing that terrorism can't happen here in Wisconsin stand the twin nuclear domes along the Lake Michigan shore in Kewaunee and Point Beach. The worst-case scenario is a direct hit by a jumbo jet that would destroy a plant's cooling systems, allowing the nuclear fuel rods to overheat and produce a steam explosion, releasing lethal radioactivity into the atmosphere. But such an outcome is unlikely, even in the event of a terrorist attack from the sky, nuclear officials here and elsewhere said. "The FBI considers nuclear plants here to be hardened targets. The prestressed concrete containment structures are very robust," said Melanie White of the Nuclear Energy Institute, Washington, D.C. Nuclear reactors in the United States have at least three layers of shielding, including a barrier of reinforced concrete 3 to 6 feet thick and a layer of steel about 2 inches thick. The casings holding the fuel rods represent a third barrier. But experts on nuclear power, gathered in Vienna, Austria, this week for the annual conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said there is little that can be done to shield nuclear facilities from a direct hit by a commercial jet. "If you postulate the risk of a jumbo jet full of fuel, it is clear that their design was not conceived to withstand such an impact," IAEA spokesman David Kyd said. Most of he world's nuclear power plants were built in the 1960s and 1970s when commercial aircraft were smaller. While the plants were not designed with jumbo jets in mind, they were built strong enough to withstand hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and direct hits from smaller jet aircraft. "Certainly, the structures were designed with the belief that their could be an air impact," said Mark Reddemann of the Nuclear Management Co., which operates six nuclear reactors in the Midwest for the utilities that own them. Reddemann is site vice president for the Kewaunee and Point Beach nuclear plants in northeastern Wisconsin. NMC, based in Hudson, was formed in 1999 by Northern States Power Co., Alliant Energy, Wisconsin Electric Power Co. and Wisconsin Public Service Co. The 530,000-kilowatt Kewaunee plant is owned by Green Bay-based WPS (41.2 percent), Alliant (41 percent) and Madison Gas and Electric (17.8 percent). WEPCO owns the 1,014-megawatt Point Beach plant in Two Rivers. In one test, Reddemann said, a military F4 fighter plane, mounted on rails, was driven into a nuclear containment structure at 450 mph. The jet was destroyed. The structure sustained only minor damage. Moreover, the great size of today's jetliners would work against such an attack, Reddemann and other officials said. Compared to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the average nuclear power plant presents a small target. At the international conference, Kyd conceded that it would be extremely difficult for a terrorist to aim a jumbo jet at a nuclear reactor at the angle required to cripple it. Still, the danger is real and nuclear officials here and around the world are discussing ways to better safeguard nuclear plants and to keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists. The world "must ensure that nuclear materials are never used as weapons of terror," said U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in Vienna. "We cannot assume that tomorrow's terrorist acts will mirror those we've just experienced." Currently, all nuclear plants in the United States are operating at their highest level of security, said Sue Gagner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "All plants have complied with this," Gagner said, "although there was no credible, specific threat to any of the facilities." A plant's level of risk is partially associated with its proximity to a major airport, Gagner said. Neither of Wisconsin's plants, which supply 25 percent of the state's electricity, is located near a large airport. Reports on terrorism compiled by the FBI show that the Midwest has fewer incidents of terrorist activity than any other region of the country. There have been 457 terrorist acts on U.S. soil during the past 20 years, the FBI reports, both domestic and international, most involving bombs. Of these, 52 occurred in the 12-state, northcentral region. On the day of the attacks on New York and Washington, NMC officials said they sent employees home that were not directly involved in the safe operation of the reactors. This minimized internal traffic and allowed the company to augment security inside the structures before employees returned to work the following day. Officials would not describe the additional security measures so as not to compromise them. While this sounds like a strong reaction, it was merely standard procedure, NMC officials said. "Everyone is focused on security issues right now," said Maureen Brown, director of communications for NMC. "Our plants are prepared every day to prevent and detect any kind of intrusion on our sites. That is every day." The NRC requires that nuclear plants be prepared to withstand an assault by a commando force armed with explosives. Armed security forces at the plants are tested during mock assaults overseen by the NRC. All of this does not come without a cost. At the Point Beach and Kewaunee plants, lines of employee cars are visible each morning, slowly snaking through security points. "We are at our highest level of security right now," Reddemann said. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Ed Culhane can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 216, or by e-mail at eculhane@smgpo. gannett.com. ***************************************************************** 15 Nuclear Hyperbole The Salt Lake Tribune -- Monday, September 24, 2001 Opponents of a plan to store nuclear waste in Utah's West Desert said recently that the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon mean a nuclear waste facility proposed for Utah's Goshute Indian Reservation would face a similar threat. While that's possible, terrorists have more enticing nuclear targets than a clutch of canisters in one of the least populated corners of the country. An explosion at any one of the nation's 104 commercial nuclear reactors would be far more likely, and that possibility was giving security experts nightmares even before this month's attacks. Opponents of the Goshute storage plan have made much of the proposed facility's proximity to the Wasatch Front -- 45 miles -- but consider the locations of a few nuclear reactors: the Hope Creek facility is 18 miles from Wilmington, Del.; the Indian Point plant is 24 miles from New York City; the Turkey Point reactor is 25 miles from Miami. Other plants are closer to Washington, Chicago and Fort Worth, Texas, than the Goshute facility would be to Salt Lake City. A direct hit by an airliner on a nuclear plant "could create a Chernobyl situation," a U.S. official acknowledged last week at an atomic energy conference in Vienna, Austria. A strike could destroy the plant's cooling systems, overheat the nuclear fuel rods and produce a steam explosion that would release lethal radioactivity into the atmosphere. While a similar strike on the Goshute facility would be serious, even the most rabid opponents aren't talking about another Chernobyl. And as the world's atomic security experts wrestle in Vienna with this latest challenge, they aren't spending a lot of time worrying about how to protect the relatively stable waste that the reactors produce. There already has been too much misinformation associated with the Goshutes' plan, and proponents have spread their share. But opponents have lowered the bar with this attempt to nurture their anti-nuclear agenda with the blood of recent terror victims. The state of Utah can defeat the proposed nuclear storage facility without resorting to such tactics. © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 16 Goshutes Hold Election, But No One Declared a Winner Yet The Salt Lake Tribune -- Monday, September 24, 2001 BY JACOB SANTINI THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE The Skull Valley Band of Goshutes held elections Saturday, but exactly who is leading the tribe has yet to be resolved, one official says. And it won't be resolved until a full tribal vote is arranged. Tribal officials were unavailable Saturday and Sunday to confirm the winners of the elections. But one observer, Anne Sward Hansen, an opponent of a proposed nuclear-fuel waste storage site on the Goshute Reservation, said Mirlinda Moon was elected chairwoman and Sammy Blackbear was elected vice chairman. Both individuals reportedly are longtime opponents of the 1997 lease agreement that paves the way for storage of up to 40,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel on the 122,000 acres of land owned by the Goshutes. The state also opposes the plan, which has yet to be approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Gov. Mike Leavitt has vowed to stop such storage. This weekend's election was set in motion in August when the tribe secretary circulated resolutions to recall the current leadership -- Leon Bear and Lori Skirby. At the time, Bear declined to step down and changed the locks on doors at the tribe's office in South Salt Lake. Just over half of the tribe's 73 adult members voted Saturday, said Hansen, who represents the Environmental Justice Foundation. David Allison, the superintendant overseeing the tribe for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said control over the tribe won't be determined until an election is held with participation from almost every adult member. " Anything short of that will not resolve anything," Allison said. "It's not going to be decided until both sides get their people there." Under Bear's leadership, the tribe agreed to store spent nuclear waste for Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of eight out-of-state utilities that operate nuclear power plants. A year ago, Bear was re-elected to a four-year term as chairman. Opponents boycotted that election claiming Bear had bribed and threatened other tribe members in an effort to hold onto the office. Bear was unavailable for comment Sunday. © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 17 Utah Says N-Waste Proposal Isn't Legal The Salt Lake Tribune -- Monday, September 24, 2001 BY JUDY FAHYS The state says Congress never gave private industry the right to store nuclear-fuel waste, which is exactly what a utility consortium and an Indian tribe plan to do in Utah's West Desert. That conviction prompted state attorneys to ask a federal court last week to throw out a lawsuit brought by waste proponents. "The problem is the law does not allow this," said Utah Assistant Attorney General Larry Jensen. "They don't have a claim to a federal license under federal law." The request to dismiss the suit by Private Fuel Storage, LLC (PFS) and the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians is the latest volley in the legal war between proponents of the waste-storage site and the state government, which is leading the opposition. It also comes on the heels of a decision by the federal Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to delay hearings and a final decision on the $3.1 billion facility. Public hearings on aircraft and earthquake safety, originally set for after Thanksgiving, have been pushed back to next April, and a final decision has been postponed from spring until after Labor Day. Billed as temporary storage for up to 40,000 metric tons of lethally radioactive material, the facility cannot begin taking spent-fuel casks until it gets the board's approval. Yet, the state insists Congress has not authorized the issuance of such a license. PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin said the regulatory board dismissed that logic years ago, when PFS first applied for the license. Federal law allows the state to appeal that issue only after a final decision has been made, she added. "What they are doing clearly is to go around the process," Martin said. "Of course, the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] has been given broad statutory authority by Congress to oversee the storage, use and handling of all nuclear materials. They have regulations to set up facilities, and we are using those regulations." The consortium and the tribe's original lawsuit challenge state laws passed earlier this year that ban facilities like theirs. The state's arguments rely heavily on the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which puts the federal government in charge of all high-level nuclear material, and a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a tobacco-industry regulation case that struck down the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's legal authority to regulate tobacco. "That's what judges are for," said Jensen. "They rein in the executive branch agencies when they have gone to far." © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 18 Protection of Czech air base, nuclear plant strenghtened BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 25, 2001 Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Namest nad Oslavou, south Moravia, 24 September: Ten military vehicles from Brno, south Moravia, arrived at Namest nad Oslavou's airport near the Dukovany nuclear power plant today to reinforce the plant's protection by an anti-aircraft missile unit from Zatec, north Bohemia, which has been there since Sunday [23 September]. Namest nad Oslavou is situated less than 10 km from the Dukovany nuclear power plant. The Zatec regiment's technical equipment has been deployed mainly in the southwest near the runways. The protection of the airport, which can become a service provider to NATO jets, has been strengthened after the recent terrorist attacks against the United States. There is a couple of radar stations at the airport, from which the soldiers monitor its and Dukovany's airspace. The antimissile regiment from Zatec is equipped with modern missile technology, i.e. with the Osa missile system, which NATO codenames Gecko. The missiles can hit targets at a distance of up to 10 kilometres. The Namest airport is the only military base in Dukovany plant's neighbourhood. The protection inside the Dukovany plant has been recently strengthened by a special police unit. The anti-aircraft brigade in Strakonice, south Bohemia, is on alert due to the danger of possible terrorist attacks against the Temelin nuclear power station, an army source who requested anonymity told CTK today. The air distance between Strakonice base and the Temelin plant is about 35 km. The brigade is capable of destroying potential attackers of Temelin directly from Strakonice, some sources said. The Temelin and Dukovany power stations could be targets of possible terrorist attacks against the Czech Republic after the recent terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the US, which claimed more than 6,000 lives. Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1819 gmt 24 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 19 Yucca law firm remains silent on conflict probe Las Vegas SUN September 24, 2001 By Benjamin Grove WASHINGTON -- Lawyers at the Chicago law firm handling legal work for the Yucca Mountain project -- subjects of an ongoing federal conflict-of-interest investigation -- are still mum about the allegations. Seven weeks after the Department of Energy's inspector general launched an investigation into the dealings of Winston &Strawn, the firm's lawyers will not publicly clarify their relationships with the DOE and the Nuclear Energy Institute, a leading pro-Yucca lobby group. Winston &Strawn officials have issued a one-sentence statement through the company's public relations firm: "Winston &Strawn continues to believe that there has been no conflict with respect to its work for the Department of Energy." At the heart of the law firm controversy is the Department of Energy, which manages the proposed Yucca project, a federal plan to bury 77,000 tons of the nation's high-level radioactive waste at the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. DOE officials are finalizing years of study at the mountain; the DOE is preparing to file for a license to bury the waste there. The DOE must apply for a license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission before it ships waste to the site. The DOE in 1999 hired Winston &Strawn to help the department review the license application. The DOE agreed to pay the firm $16.5 million for the 38,900-man-hour job -- large even by international firm standards. In July the Sun uncovered a possible conflict of interest: Winston &Strawn lawyers also were paid by the Nuclear Energy Institute for six years to lobby in Washington in favor of the controversial Yucca project, which Nevada officials strongly oppose. Nevada officials objected because the DOE is supposed to remain independent and unbiased throughout the selection process. Winston &Strawn severed its ties with NEI in July, just a few days after the Sun sought comment from the firm. Nevada officials urged DOE Inspector General Gregory Friedman to investigate, which he agreed to do Aug. 3. That investigation is ongoing. The Sun since July has sought to obtain a list of Winston &Strawn lawyers who worked on the DOE Yucca application -- along with a list of firm lobbyists who worked for NEI. Comparing those lists would shed light on whether the same lawyers were working for both the DOE and NEI, a possible impropriety. The firm has not released the lists, nor has the DOE. Repeated calls to Winston &Strawn have been referred to the law firm's New York-based public relations agency, the Dilenschneider Group. Dilenschneider's Chuck Connor communicated with the Sun through e-mail, but would not answer questions. Among the questions: Did the firm violate the multimillion-dollar contract it signed with the DOE? The Sun, through the Freedom of Information Act, obtained the DOE-Winston &Strawn contract. The contract contains an "organizational conflicts-of-interest clause" that requires the firm not be biased "because of its financial, contractual, organizational, or other interests which relate to the work under this contract." It does not appear Winston &Strawn violated that clause because it forbids bias -- not potential conflicts of interest, said UNLV law professor Jeff Stemple, who reviewed that section of the contract. "They clearly have a conflict; they don't necessarily have a bias," he said. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is not surprised the firm's lawyers won't talk. "It's an obvious conflict of interest," Reid said. "How can they talk their way out of it? They're in big trouble, and the less they talk -- from their perspective -- the better off they'll be." "They (Winston &Strawn) are playing a very dangerous game," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "They had no business working for both the Department of Energy and Nuclear Energy Institute in the first place." NRC officials said they cannot comment yet on whether it was inappropriate for the DOE to hire a pro-Yucca firm to review its Yucca license application -- even though it will be the NRC's job to approve it. "The DOE needs to respond on Winston &Strawn's contract," NRC nuclear waste program manager William Reamer said. "It is premature (for the NRC) to say at this point." Expert opinions differ on whether Winston &Strawn is breaking any rules. "It's a close call," said Robert Drinan, legal ethics professor at Georgetown University. "You could say that they have taken themselves out of the conflict" by severing ties to NEI. "They're not contaminated forever." On its face the firm's relationship with NEI may not sit right with Nevadans, but it's probably not an improper relationship, said Seth Rosner, a 40-year veteran lawyer, former professor and former chairman of the American Bar Association's ethics committee. According to legal ethics rules used in most states, a firm cannot represent two clients that have "adverse" interests, Rosner said. It appears the DOE and NEI do not, he said. The firm may have good reasons for not disclosing documents that clear them of suspicion, Rosner said. But Rosner added, "My first instinct, if I were making the decisions at Winston &Strawn, would be to make those disclosures, and to make those disclosures (in concert) with the Department of Energy." Sun reporter Mary Manning contributed to this article. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 20 Daily Events Report 09/ 21 24 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Operations Center Event Reports For 09/21/2001 09/24/2001 ** EVENT NUMBERS ** 38302 38303 38304 38305 38306 38307 38308 General Information or Other Event Number: 38302 REP ORG: CALIFORNIA RADIATION CONTROL PRGM NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/21/2001 LICENSEE: MEDI PHYSICS INC., dba NYCOMED AMERSHNOTIFICATION TIME: 15:30[EDT] CITY: San Diego REGION: 4 EVENT DATE: 09/21/2001 COUNTY: STATE: CA EVENT TIME: 11:00[PDT] LICENSE#: 5796 37 AGREEMENT: Y LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/21/2001 DOCKET: PERSON ORGANIZATION BILL JONES R4 SUSAN FRANT NMSS NRC NOTIFIED BY: ROBERT GREGER HQ OPS OFFICER: STEVE SANDIN EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR SECTION: NAGR AGREEMENT STATE EVENT TEXT AGREEMENT STATE REPORT INVOLVING RAD CONTAMINATION DURING TRANSPORT "On August 24th at approximately 9:00 a.m. at the Medi Physics facility located at 4877 Mercury Street. "A courier for Medi Physics brought back some empty ammo containers from the morning deliveries. The containers were wiped upon receipt and it was discovered that one of the containers had removable contamination on the top of the container. From our phone conversation it appears that the level of removable contamination was approximately 300,000 DPM/ 100 cm2. The material was identified as Technetium 99. Medi Physics will be submitting a letter with the details to my attention. The RSO at the hospital was contacted and he completed a survey to check for contamination at their facility. It is not known at this time the results of that survey. The courier's feet and the pedals of the vehicle also showed elevated levels of contamination." This information was reported to the San Diego Office on 9/21/01 at approximately 1100PDT. CA Event Report Identification XCA 85. General Information or Other Event Number: 38303 REP ORG: NV DIV OF RAD HEALTH NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/21/2001 LICENSEE: SUNRISE DIAGNOSTIC CENTER NOTIFICATION TIME: 17:25[EDT] CITY: LAS VEGAS REGION: 4 EVENT DATE: 09/21/2001 COUNTY: STATE: NV EVENT TIME: [PDT] LICENSE#: 03 12 0395 02 AGREEMENT: Y LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/21/2001 DOCKET: PERSON ORGANIZATION JOHN PELLET R4 ERIC LEEDS NMSS NRC NOTIFIED BY: STAN MARSHALL HQ OPS OFFICER: STEVE SANDIN EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR SECTION: NAGR AGREEMENT STATE EVENT TEXT AGREEMENT STATE REPORT INVOLVING POTENTIAL MEDICAL MISADMINISTRATION "Malfunction of Leksell Gamma Knife patient table. Possible misadministration to patient. Licensee is preparing a written report with more detail, corrective action, etc. "Patient being treated in a Gamma Knife unit rolled up against the table and table was unable to automatically retract from the Gamma Knife 'cave.' Licensee personnel were able to enter the room and manually remove the patient and table from the 'cave.' Personnel exposure estimated to be between 3 mr and 20 mr. Gamma Knife manufacturer (Leksell) has also been notified." Event Report ID No. NV 01 004. Event location Las Vegas, NV. Power Reactor Event Number: 38304 FACILITY: MCGUIRE REGION: 2 NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/22/2001 UNIT: [1] [2] [] STATE: NC NOTIFICATION TIME: 03:48[EDT] RXTYPE: [1] W 4 LP,[2] W 4 LP EVENT DATE: 09/22/2001 EVENT TIME: 00:39[EDT] NRC NOTIFIED BY: ERIC WILKINSON LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/22/2001 HQ OPS OFFICER: FANGIE JONES PERSON ORGANIZATION EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY CHARLES CASTO R2 10 CFR SECTION: APRE 50.72(b)(2)(xi) OFFSITE NOTIFICATION UNIT SCRAM CODERX CRITINIT PWR INIT RX MODE CURR PWR CURR RX MODE 1 N Y 100 Power Operation 100 Power Operation 2 N Y 100 Power Operation 100 Power Operation EVENT TEXT OFFSITE NOTIFICATION TO THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES DUE TO AN INCIDENT IN FRONT OF THE PLANT The licensee's security department contacted the local police department about an incident just outside the plant at the highway entrance about a quarter mile from the protected area. The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector. Fuel Cycle Facility Event Number: 38305 FACILITY: PORTSMOUTH GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANT NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/22/2001 RXTYPE: URANIUM ENRICHMENT FACILITY NOTIFICATION TIME: 06:21[EDT] COMMENTS: 2 DEMOCRACY CENTER EVENT DATE: 09/22/2001 6903 ROCKLEDGE DRIVE EVENT TIME: 02:25[EDT] BETHESDA, MD 20817 (301)564 3200 LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/22/2001 CITY: PIKETON REGION: 3 COUNTY: PIKE STATE: OH PERSON ORGANIZATION LICENSE#: GDP 2 AGREEMENT: N JOHN MADERA R3 DOCKET: 0707002 ERIC LEEDS NMSS RICHARD WESSMAN IRO NRC NOTIFIED BY: ERICK SPAETH HQ OPS OFFICER: FANGIE JONES EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR SECTION: NBNL RESPONSE BULLETIN EVENT TEXT 4 HOUR REPORT NRC BULLETIN 91 01 On 9/22/01 at 0225 hrs., operations personnel in the X 330 process building discovered that a UO2F2 deposit with "Greater Than Safe Mass" (GSM) was no longer being buffered with dry air or N2, to greater than or equal to 14 psia. The deposit was located at 31 5, cell 6/8 drop. The buffer pressure had been monitored from an adjacent cell 31 5 8. Block valves marked as open on a pin chart, were found to be closed, thus isolating the deposit from the monitoring cell. The GSM deposit pressure was verified to be 5.81 psia with Maintenance and Test Equipment (M). NCSA 0330_004.A06 requirement #8a states in part, "If there is a deposit greater than a safe mass for systems conditions in the equipment, the pressure in the equipment shall monitored each shift and if the pressure is less than 14 psia it shall be adjusted with dry air or N2 to greater than 14 psia within 12 hours." Buffer pressure was increased to greater than 14 psia at 0425 hours. Remaining areas of the plant with similar conditions were checked and verified to be compliant with the 14 psia Buffer pressure requirement. SAFETY SIGNIFICANCE OF EVENTS: MODERATE, in this event the equipment was potentially without a buffer for 5 months which is insufficient time to allow enough water to enter the pipe and moderate the deposit to the level required to support a criticality. POTENTIAL CRITICALITY PATHWAYS INVOLVED (BRIEF SCENARIO[S] OF HOW CRITICALITY COULD OCCUR): Sufficient moderation must be added to a deposit at > safe mass to potentially create a critical configuration. This is highly dependent on geometry and reflection conditions. CONTROLLED PARAMETERS (MASS, MODERATION, GEOMETRY, CONCENTRATION, FTC.): In this event, moderation is the only available control, and it was not maintained. Other parameters, like geometry and reflection, are assumed to be optimum. ESTIMATED AMOUNT, ENRICHMENT, FORM OF LICENSED MATERIAL (INCLUDE PROCESS LIMIT AND % WORST CASE OF CRITICAL MASS): Worst case 1549 pounds U02F2 / 50% (max. 2323 pounds) at 2.26% based on available Non Destructive analysis Measurements. This mass is above the minimum critical mass (690 pounds U02F2 at optimum conditions) for this enrichment level. NUCLEAR CRITICALITY SAFETY CONTROL(S) OR CONTROL SYSTEM(S) AND DESCRIPTION OF THE FAILURES OR DEFICIENCIES: Moderation Control was not maintained for up to 5 months, change in system configuration unknowingly isolated the deposit from pressure monitoring point. CORRECTIVE ACTIONS TO RESTORE SAFETY SYSTEM AND WHEN EACH WAS IMPLEMENTED: 0425 hours required buffer re established, the valves involved were opened and tagged to remain open, verified remaining 4 like conditions were buffered as required. Investigation in progress. The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector and the on site DOE representative. Fuel Cycle Facility Event Number: 38306 FACILITY: NUCLEAR FUEL SERVICES INC. NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/23/2001 RXTYPE: URANIUM FUEL FABRICATION NOTIFICATION TIME: 07:03[EDT] COMMENTS: HEU CONVERSION & SCRAP RECOVERY EVENT DATE: 09/23/2001 NAVAL REACTOR FUEL CYCLE EVENT TIME: 05:42[EDT] LEU SCRAP RECOVERY LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/23/2001 CITY: ERWIN REGION: 2 COUNTY: UNICOI STATE: TN PERSON ORGANIZATION LICENSE#: SNM 124 AGREEMENT: Y WALT ROGERS R2DO DOCKET: 07000143 ROBERT PIERSON IAT DAVE THOMPSON, R2 IAT NRC NOTIFIED BY: WAYNE PHILLIPS HQ OPS OFFICER: FANGIE JONES EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR SECTION: DDDD 73.71 UNSPECIFIED PARAGRAPH EVENT TEXT 1 HOUR SECURITY REPORT Safeguards system degradation related to power supply functions. Immediate compensatory measures were taken upon discovery. NRC Region 2 (Al Gooden) has been informed by the licensee. Refer to the HOO for additional details. Power Reactor Event Number: 38307 FACILITY: WATTS BAR REGION: 2 NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/23/2001 UNIT: [1] [] [] STATE: TN NOTIFICATION TIME: 18:45[EDT] RXTYPE: [1] W 4 LP,[2] W 4 LP EVENT DATE: 09/23/2001 EVENT TIME: 18:34[EDT] NRC NOTIFIED BY: BEN HUNT LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/23/2001 HQ OPS OFFICER: JOHN MacKINNON PERSON ORGANIZATION EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY BRIAN BONSER R2 10 CFR SECTION: JOHN ZWOLINSKI NRR NINF INFORMATION ONLY UNIT SCRAM CODERX CRITINIT PWR INIT RX MODE CURR PWR CURR RX MODE 1 N Y 100 Power Operation 100 Power Operation EVENT TEXT CONDITION FOR AN UNUSUAL EVENT REPORTED BUT NOT DECLARED. At 1755ET the sensing line to the "B" Centrifugal Charging Pump (CCP) local discharge pressure gage broke. The operator noticed that the Volume Control Tank level was decreasing, Reactor Coolant System Pressurizer level did not change, but the VCT low level alarm was never reached. The leak was from the sensing line for "B" CCP local discharge pressure gage which is located in the Auxiliary Building. The leak rate was determined to be approximately 25 gpm by using the plant computer monitor to determine the rate of change of the Volume Control Tank level. All the water issuing from the sensing line drained into the Auxiliary Building drain system which drained into the radwaste system. No release offsite. The licensee is not in any Limiting Condition of Operation at this time. "B" CCP is fully operable because it's discharge pressure can be read from several locations, "A" CCP is fully operable. All other emergency core cooling systems, emergency diesel generators are fully operable if needed. State and Local officials were notified of this event. The time between 1801 hours and 1834 hours were used to determine the size of the leak from the Volume Control Tank. The NRC Resident Inspector will be notified of this event by the licensee. Power Reactor Event Number: 38308 FACILITY: NINE MILE POINT REGION: 1 NOTIFICATION DATE: 09/24/2001 UNIT: [1] [] [] STATE: NY NOTIFICATION TIME: 05:55[EDT] RXTYPE: [1] GE 2,[2] GE 5 EVENT DATE: 09/24/2001 EVENT TIME: 04:55[EDT] NRC NOTIFIED BY: LAURIE RAYLE LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/24/2001 HQ OPS OFFICER: FANGIE JONES PERSON ORGANIZATION EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY JAMES LINVILLE R1 10 CFR SECTION: ACOM 50.72(b)(3)(xiii) LOSS COMM/ASMT/RESPONSE UNIT SCRAM CODERX CRITINIT PWR INIT RX MODE CURR PWR CURR RX MODE 1 N Y 100 Power Operation 100 Power Operation EVENT TEXT LOSS OF PROMPT NOTIFICATION TONE ALERT RADIO FOR GREATER THAN 1 HOUR The licensee received a call at 0504 EDT from the Oswego County Warning Point that the Oswego County Prompt Notification Tone Alert Radio had been out of service for greater than 1 hour as of 0455 EDT. The cause of the outage is unknown and is being investigated. The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector. ***************************************************************** 21 Warning on plan for Sellafield MOX plant ireland.com - The Irish Times - IRELAND September 25, 2001 By Mark Hennessy, Political Reporter The British government has yet to decide if it will finally approve the commissioning of British Nuclear Fuels' Ł470 million plutonium recycling plant at Sellafield in Cumbria, sources said last night. Last night, however, the Green Party TD, Mr Trevor Sargent, warned that an announcement about the plant, which has lain idle for four years, could be made as early as Thursday. The mixed-oxide (MOX) plant is designed to process nuclear reactor fuel from uranium and plutonium imported from a large number of countries, though a lucrative Japanese order has already been lost. The danger posed by Sellafield to Ireland has been highlighted further by the terrorist attacks in the United States, since environmentalists now argue that the Cumbrian plant is a prime target. Anti-aircraft batteries should be built to protect it as "a matter of extreme urgency", a Paris-based environmental organisation concentrating on energy issues warned last week. The rupturing of the plant's tanks of lethally radioactive waste would cause more carnage than any other single act of terrorism that could be inflicted on the United Kingdom, said Wise-Paris. Sellafield could spray up to two tonnes of caesium-137 into the atmosphere if struck by a hijacked large commercial airliner - compared with the 50lb of caesium released by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Ms Mycle Schneider, one of the report's authors, said: "After what happened on 11 September, we know what terrorists are capable of. It is a question of calculating what the impact will be." British Nuclear Fuels insists that its buildings are capable of surviving aircraft crashes, though sources suggest that this would not include large airliners loaded with fuel. The United States Energy Secretary, Mr Spencer Abraham, warned the International Atomic Energy Agency last week that Sellafield and its French equivalent in Cap de la Hague in Normandy are now major terrorist targets. The UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insists that no final decision has been made by its Minister, Ms Margaret Beckett, and the UK Health Secretary, Mr Alan Milburn. "They are still reviewing the reports that have been put in front of them," a spokesman for the Department told The Irish Times. ***************************************************************** 22 State's nuclear plants safe, officials say Green Bay Press-Gazette - Posted Sep. 23, 2001 Potential targets of terrorism increase security By Ed Culhane For the Press-Gazete Did you know? There have been 457 terrorist acts on U.S. soil during the past 20 years, the FBI reports, both domestic and international, most involving bombs. Of these, 52 occurred in the FBI’s 12-state north-central region. Special report Terror In America Use of hijacked airliners to destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Center and breach the Pentagon has raised concerns about the vulnerability of the nation’s nuclear power plants. Two potential terrorism targets here in Wisconsin stand along the Lake Michigan shore in Kewaunee and Point Beach nuclear plants. The worst-case scenario is a direct hit by a jumbo jet that would destroy a plant’s cooling systems, allowing the nuclear fuel rods to overheat and producing an explosion that releases lethal radioactive steam into the atmosphere. But such an outcome is unlikely, even in the event of a terrorist attack from the sky, nuclear officials here and elsewhere said. “The FBI considers nuclear plants here to be hardened targets. The prestressed concrete containment structures are very robust,” said Melanie White of the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington. Nuclear reactors in the United States have at least three layers of shielding, including a barrier of reinforced concrete 3 to 6 feet thick and a layer of steel about 2 inches thick. The casings holding the fuel rods are a third barrier. But experts on nuclear power, gathered in Vienna, Austria, this week for the annual conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said there is little that can be done to shield nuclear facilities from a direct hit by a commercial jet. “If you postulate the risk of a jumbo jet full of fuel, it is clear that their design was not conceived to withstand such an impact,” agency spokesman David Kyd said. Most of the world’s nuclear power plants were built in the 1960s and 1970s, when commercial aircraft were smaller. While the plants were not designed with jumbo jets in mind, they were built to withstand hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and direct hits from smaller jet aircraft. “Certainly, the structures were designed with the belief that there could be an air impact,” said Mark Reddemann of the Nuclear Management Co., which operates six nuclear reactors in the Midwest, including Kewaunee and Point Beach. Reddemann is site vice president for Kewaunee and Point Beach. NMC, based in Hudson, was formed in 1999 by Northern States Power Co., Alliant Energy, Wisconsin Electric Power Co. and Wisconsin Public Service Co. The 530,000-kilowatt Kewaunee plant is owned by Green Bay-based WPS (41.2 percent), Alliant (41 percent) and Madison Gas and Electric (17.8 percent). Wisconsin Electric owns the 1,014-megawatt Point Beach plant in Two Creeks. In one test, Reddemann said, a military F-4 fighter plane mounted on rails was driven into a nuclear-containment structure at 450 mph. The jet was destroyed, but the structure sustained only minor damage. Moreover, the great size of today’s jetliners would work against such an attack, Reddemann and other officials said. Compared to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the average nuclear power plant presents a small target. At the international conference, Kyd conceded that it would be extremely difficult for a terrorist to aim a jumbo jet at a nuclear reactor at the angle required to cripple it. Currently, all nuclear plants in the United States are operating at their highest level of security, said Sue Gagner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “All plants have complied with this although there was no credible, specific threat to any of the facilities,” she said. A plant’s level of risk is partially associated with its proximity to a major airport, Gagner said. Neither of Wisconsin’s plants, which supply 25 percent of the state’s electricity, is located near a large airport. Reports on terrorism compiled by the FBI show that the Midwest has fewer incidents of terrorist activity than any other region of the country. The NRC requires that nuclear plants be prepared to withstand an assault by a commando force armed with explosives. Armed security forces at the plants are tested during mock assaults overseen by the NRC. At the Point Beach and Kewaunee plants, lines of employee cars are visible each morning, slowly snaking through security points. “We are at our highest level of security right now,” Reddemann said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. ***************************************************************** 23 Nuclear security lax - timesdispatch.com [Richmond Times-Dispatch] Visitor enters Surry gate without search BY BILL BASKERVILL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sep 24, 2001 SURRY - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ordered increased security at the nation's nuclear power plants after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but armed guards at one of Virginia's two plants waved a visitor through the main gate without checking identification or searching his car. The visitor was allowed to drive past an information center and about 100 yards into the facility to an exit at state Route 650, a public road that runs past the plant. A guard at the entrance gate told the driver how to leave the grounds from another exit. He did not escort the visitor, and there was no guard at the exit. "When [drivers of] vehicles say they are going to turn around [and leave the plant], security takes that at face value," said Rick Schuerer, spokesman for Dominion Generation, the plant's operator. "However, they watch vehicles so they know they are taking the route out. If they take a different turn toward the plant, security would radio vehicular security and they would have stopped them." That doesn't appear to be good enough, said Reed Boatright, spokesman for Gov. Jim Gilmore. "The governor is acutely concerned for the safety of all Virginians," Boatright said Friday. "We'll make contact with" Dominion Generation. "It sounds like they've got some work to do." Before allowing the visitor through unchecked, four guards armed with holstered handguns thoroughly searched a vending company van at the gate. The most visible signs of increased security at the Surry station along the James River in southeastern Virginia are a half-dozen concrete barriers blocking a road leading to a field of transmission towers. The northbound lane of the two-lane state Route 650 also is blocked. David Christian, vice president and chief nuclear officer for Dominion Generation, said the company blocked the north lane as a security precaution after the attacks. The few people who live beyond the power plant are required now to go through the plant's main gate to get back on 650 north. Guards know who they are, Christian said. The traffic pattern takes motorists within about 300 feet of the turbine building. Behind the turbine building are the two reactors. The reactors and turbine building are surrounded by double rows of barbed wire fencing, the "protected area" of nuclear plants. Anyone trying to penetrate a protected area "is liable to get his behind shot off," said Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Ken Clark. The new traffic pattern at Surry does not violate NRC security requirements, which generally allow traffic up to protected areas, Clark said. "Those requirements may change," he said. "I can assure you and every other citizen, if you tried to go inside that protected area uninvited it would not be a pleasant experience," Clark said. There is more security within the protected areas "besides just guards with hand weapons." Specific information about security at the 103 nuclear power plants in the United States is classified by law. The traffic pattern at Dominion's North Anna nuclear power station 60 miles northwest of Richmond does not funnel public traffic into the plant site. The 187-foot-high reactor containment buildings at Surry are massive concrete structures up to 4˝ feet thick and heavily reinforced by steel rods. They also have a steel lining one-half inch thick. Surry and North Anna each have two reactors; one at North Anna is off-line for refueling. The International Atomic Energy Agency conceded that little can be done to shield a nuclear facility from a direct hit from an airliner like those that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But IAEA spokesman David Kyd said containment buildings at nuclear power plants are far smaller targets than the Pentagon or World Trade Center towers, and it would be extremely difficult for a terrorist to mount a direct hit at an angle that could breach the buildings. The buildings are made to withstand car bombs or hits by small planes. Surry and North Anna are Virginia's only nuclear plants. Richmond Newspapers Inc. ***************************************************************** 24 Attacks bring halt to cross-country shipments of nuclear fuel theIndependent.com News: 09/21/01 The Associated Press LINCOLN -- The U.S. Department of Energy notified state officials that cross-country shipments of nuclear waste -- including a trek across Nebraska -- were halted after last week's terrorists attacks. All shipments have been suspended indefinitely, Chris Peterson, spokesman for Gov. Mike Johanns, said Thursday. The energy department recently notified Nebraska and other states about the suspension of future shipments after the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks in New York and Washington. Federal law prohibits government officials from commenting on any nuclear shipment until 10 days after it has reached its destination. A shipment of spent radioactive fuel rods had been set to go from a former nuclear fuel reprocessing center in West Valley, New York, to a federal energy lab near Pocatello, Idaho. The 40-ton rail shipment would have passed through southeast Nebraska. Last year, the federal agency shipped 26 trains carrying radioactive material to dumping grounds in Idaho, Utah and Nevada. In addition, trucks carried 528 shipments of hazardous materials last year along Interstate 80. © 2001 The Grand Island Independent AP materials © 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 25 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Monday, September 24, 2001 State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects ADAMS - Items of Interest Recent Released Documents Added - Monday, September 24, 2001 These documents and others may be retrieved at the NRC PERR web site -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item ID: 012640406 Accession Number: ML012640477 Document Date: 9/21/01 Title: 10/03/2001 - Notice of Meeting with Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) on Risk-Informed In-Service Inspection (ISI). Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012640405 Accession Number: ML012640205 Document Date: 9/21/01 Title: 10/04/01- Forthcoming Meeting With EPRI on risk-informed activities. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD2 Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012640425 Accession Number: ML012640407 Document Date: 9/12/01 Title: Draft Agenda for 09/18/2001 West Valley Citizen Task Force Meeting. Author Affiliation: West Valley Citizen Task Force Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012640382 Accession Number: ML012570088 Document Date: 8/13/64 Title: Ltr from D. Nussbaumer, AEC, to F. P. Green, UC, re: Authorization to ship up to 210 kilograms of U-235 in accordance with procedures described in application dated 08/06/1964. Author Affiliation: US AEC Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012640190 Accession Number: ML012490203 Document Date: 9/6/01 Title: SECY-01-0171 - Proposed Subsequent Arrangement to Authorize the Retransfer of US-Origin Uranium and Plutonium in Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Assemblies from Japan to UK (Includes Attachment 3) Author Affiliation: NRC/OIP Document/Report Number: SECY-01-0171 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012640400 Accession Number: ML012630377 Document Date: 9/20/01 Title: SECY-01-0174 - "Weekly Information Report - Week Ending 09/14/01" Author Affiliation: NRC/EDO/AO Document/Report Number: SECY-01-0174 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012640398 Accession Number: ML012640068 Document Date: 9/21/01 Title: SRM-SECY-01-0171, "Proposed Subsequent Arrangement to Authorize the Retransfer of U.S.-Origin Uranium and Plutonium In Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Assemblies From Japan to the United Kingdom" Author Affiliation: NRC/SECY Document/Report Number: SRM-SECY-01-0171 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012640166 Accession Number: ML012560302 Document Date: 9/4/01 Title: Tennessee Valley Authority - NRC Staff Response to TVA's First Set of Interrogatories. Author Affiliation: NRC/OGC Document/Report Number: ***************************************************************** 26 Local paper unearths unattended nuclear waste storage in central Ukraine BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 25, 2001 Text of report by Ukrainian news agency UNIAN Zhytomyr, 24 September: A nuclear waste storage has been found near Zhytomyr, Misto newspaper, which is published by the Zhytomyr city council, reported in the article entitled "Nuclear Bomb near Zhytomyr". The newspaper reported that unknown people dug out a nuclear waste storage three kilometres off the Vakulenchuk settlement (Chudnivskyy District). It was a concrete well with wooden boxes cast in concrete. The boxes contained steel blocks marked as radioactive substance. A portion of them still remains in the boxes while some are reportedly scattered around the well, which is filled with water. Each steel block emits from 0.017 to 1.2 milliroentgen per hour. The maximal permissible emission level is 0.03 milliroentgen per hour, thus the steel blocks exceed this limit by 3,900 per cent. The newspaper reported that the Soviet Army's military unit 83330, which stored nuclear warheads, used to be deployed at the site. The Ukrainian Armed Forces' unit A-1471, whose command is based in Kiev, is currently responsible for the site. The site is guarded by civil personnel, while foresters of the Chudniv military forestry enterprise cut woods nearby. The newspaper said that the Security Service [of Ukraine] had instructed the local sanitary authorities to urgently isolate the radiation sources. The newspaper argued that the border troops' sanitary authorities should have taken care of the site in accordance with the regulations on tackling similar findings in the areas used by the military. But the mayor of Vakulenchuk, Svitlana Kotsyuba, told the newspaper that the radioactive waste is still scattered around the well. Source: UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1210 gmt 24 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 27 Letter: Good reason to stop nuke shipment - Ron Bourgoin Sunday, September 23, 2001 Guy Farmer's "Yucca Mountain: Going through the motions" made me wonder if after Tuesday, Sept., I 1 Spencer Abraham will be quick to recommend Yucca Mountain. I wish now I had paid closer attention, but over the past few years there have been reports from France and Russia about a few ounces here and a few pounds there of uranium and plutonium that have disappeared. It only takes about 20 pounds of nuclear fuel to level a city. When I think of the tens of thousands of shipments of nuclear wastes that are to be transported to a central repository, I worry about terrorists getting hold of a single one. That's all it would take: just one single canister. The waste has been safe for at least 60 years, and so have we, and so has the free world. Perhaps the best thing to do is leave it where it's been. If I were head of the DOE, I wouldn't move the first container. RON BOURGOIN Edgecombe Community College Rocky Mount, N.C. ***************************************************************** 28 NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards to Meet October 4 -6 in Rockville, Maryland Press Release - 2001 - 113 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA No. 01-113 September 24, 2001 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) has scheduled a meeting from October 4 -6 in Rockville, Maryland. Among the topics to be discussed will be an application for a power uprate for the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant in Iowa, a license renewal application for Florida's Turkey Point nuclear plant Units 3 and 4, and the NRC staff's readiness assessment for future plant designs. A complete agenda is attached. The meeting, most of which is open to the public, will be held in Room T-2B3 of the agency's Two White Flint North building, at 11545 Rockville Pike. It will begin at 8:30 a.m. each day. For additional information on the meeting or schedule changes, please contact Dr. Sher Bahadur at 301-415-0138. ACRS meeting notices, transcripts and letters are available on the internet, at http://www.nrc.gov/ACRSACNW. ACRS MEETING AGENDA THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4 8:30 - 8:35 A.M.: Opening Remarks by the ACRS Chairman (Open) - The ACRS Chairman will make remarks regarding the conduct of the meeting. 8:35 - 10:15 A.M.: Duane Arnold Core Power Uprate (Open/Closed) - The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff, the Nuclear Management Company, Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), and General Electric Nuclear Energy regarding the license amendment request to increase the core thermal power level for the Duane Arnold Energy Center and the associated staff's Safety Evaluation Report (SER). [NOTE: A portion of this session may be closed to discuss General Electric Nuclear Energy proprietary information applicable to this matter.] 10:35 A.M. - 12:30 P.M.: Readiness Assessment for Future Plant Designs and the Staff Proposal Regarding Exelon's Regulatory Licensing Approach for the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (Open) - The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff regarding the staff's readiness assessment for future plant designs and the staff proposal regarding Exelon's regulatory licensing approach for the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor. 1:30 - 2:30 P.M.: Action Plan to Address ACRS Comments and Recommendations Associated with the Differing Professional Opinion (DPO) on Steam Generator Tube Integrity (Open) The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff regarding the staff's action plan to address the ACRS comments and recommendations, which are included in NUREG-1740, "Voltage-Based Alternative Repair Criteria," associated with the DPO on steam generator tube integrity. 2:45 - 3:45 P.M.: Proposed Resolution of Generic Safety Issue-173A, "Spent Fuel Storage Pool for Operating Facilities" (Open) - The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff regarding the proposed resolution of Generic Safety Issue-173A and the response to ACRS comments and recommendations included in the June 20, 2000 ACRS report on this matter. 4:00 - 7:00 P.M.: Discussion of Proposed ACRS Reports (Open) - The Committee will discuss proposed ACRS reports on matters considered during this meeting as well as proposed reports on Reactor Oversight Process, EPRI Report on Resolution of Generic Letter 96-06 Waterhammer Issues, and Response to the August 8, 2001 EDO response to the June 19, 2001 ACRS letter on Risk-Based Performance Indicators. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5 8:30 - 8:35 A.M.: Opening Remarks by the ACRS Chairman (Open) - The ACRS Chairman will make remarks regarding the conduct of the meeting.8:35 - 10:30 A.M.: Interim Review of the License Renewal Application for the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant and Westinghouse Topical Reports Related to License Renewal (Open) - The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff and the Florida Power and Light Company regarding the license renewal application for the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4, Westinghouse Topical Reports related to license renewal, and the associated staff's Safety Evaluation Reports. 10:50 - 11:20 A.M.: Subcommittee Report (Open) - Report by the Chairman of the ACRS Subcommittee on Materials and Metallurgy regarding the results of the September 26, 2001 meeting during which several matters associated with steam generator tube integrity issues, including revised Steam Generator Action Plan were discussed. 11:20 A.M. - 12:00 Noon: Safety Culture and Risk-Informing General Design Criteria (Open) - The Committee will hear a presentation by and hold discussions with Mr. J. N. Sorensen, ACRS Senior Fellow, regarding his draft reports on safety culture and on risk-informing General Design Criteria of Appendix A to 10 CFR Part 50. 1:00 - 1:45 P.M.: Future ACRS Activities/Report of the Planning and Procedures Subcom-mittee (Open) - The Committee will discuss the recommendations of the Planning and Procedures Subcommittee regarding items proposed for consideration by the full Committee during future meetings. Also, it will hear a report of the Planning and Procedures Subcommittee on matters related to the conduct of ACRS business, and organizational and personnel matters relating to the ACRS. 1:45 - 2:00 P.M.: Reconciliation of ACRS Comments and Recommendations (Open) - The Committee will discuss the responses from the NRC Executive Director for Operations (EDO) to comments and recommendations included in recent ACRS reports and letters. The EDO responses are expected to be made available to the Committee prior to the meeting. 2:15 - 3:15 P.M.: Preparation for Meeting with the NRC Commissioners (Open) - The Committee will discuss topics for meeting with the NRC Commissioners scheduled for December 5, 2001. 3:15 P.M. - 7:00 P.M.: Discussion of Proposed ACRS Reports (Open) - The Committee will discuss proposed ACRS reports. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6 8:30 A.M. - 2:30 P.M.: Discussion of Proposed ACRS Reports (Open) - The Committee will continue its discussion of proposed ACRS reports. 2:30 - 3:00 P.M.: Miscellaneous (Open) - The Committee will discuss matters related to the conduct of Committee activities and matters and specific issues that were not completed during previous meetings, as time and availability of information permit. ***************************************************************** 29 NRC to Discuss Emergency Preparedness Issues, Improvements Regarding Limerick and Peach Bottom Nuclear Power Plants Press Release - Region I - 2001- 058 - UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 No. I-01-058 September 24, 2001 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610)337-5330/ e-mail: dps@nrc.gov Neil A. Sheehan (610)337-5331/e-mail: nas@nrc.gov Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Exelon Generation Company on Monday, October 1, to discuss recent emergency preparedness performance issues and program improvements at the Limerick and Peach Bottom nuclear power plants. The Limerick plant is located in Limerick, Pa., and Peach Bottom in Delta, Pa. Exelon operates both facilities. The management meeting, which was requested by Exelon, is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Public Meeting Room at the NRC's Region I office in King of Prussia, Pa. It will be open to the public for observation, with NRC staff available afterwards to answer questions from interested members of the public. Last month, the NRC cited Exelon for several occasions when the public address and evacuation alarm system at Peach Bottom was not properly maintained or did not function in accordance with the plant's emergency plan and implementing procedures. The NRC determined the issue was of low to moderate safety significance because a failed or degraded emergency on-site communications system would have prevented the plant from properly informing and alerting on-site personnel of protective actions and could have unnecessarily delayed a site evacuation. ***************************************************************** 30 Radioactive red ink Glitches stall progress at Allied Technology Group melter, but officials still optimistic This story was published Sun, Sep 23, 2001 By John Stang Herald staff writer The bottleneck is the size of a medium house. The radioactive wastes clogged behind it could fill a small lake. And though that may not sound like a giant problem, solving it is the key to one of the nation's trickiest environmental problems. Resolution depends on a state-of-the-art waste melter in north Richland, a stainless steel chamber big enough to hold two stacked compact cars that is connected by a complicated maze of pipes and cylinders to a 76-foot-tall exhaust stack. The unique contraption is designed to take low-level radioactive wastes laced with dangerous chemicals and turn them into a benign glass. Lots of Hanford wastes are supposed to go through this system. So are wastes from federal and commercial sites nationwide. The problem is the sophisticated equipment keeps shutting itself off. That means Allied Technology Group cannot conduct a demonstration for state and federal regulators, whose approval is needed before the so-called GASVIT system can operate at full speed. Its official test run is now 10 months behind schedule. And because of the delays, ATG has piled up at least $12 million in overdue debts and is flirting with bankruptcy. ATG can't pay many of its bills, including money due some Tri-City construction contractors. "Since we do not currently have sufficient funds to repay all our indebtedness ... we may not be able to continue as a going concern. ... In that case, we would likely become insolvent and subject to ... bankruptcy proceedings," ATG wrote in a May 4 filing with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission. Vik Mani, ATG's chief operating officer, said mentioning bankruptcy in its SEC filings is mandatory because the company must outline the worst-case scenario for stockholders. But, he said, "We're not remotely thinking about bankruptcy." Even so, the company needs the system working at full speed to dig itself out of debt, he said. ATG hopes to start the delayed tests by next Sunday. Hanford officials are hoping for success because GASVIT is a key to tackling some of their worst waste problems. For example: n The Tri-Party Agreement, the legal pact that governs Hanford cleanup, requires the Department of Energy to glassify or incinerate 312 cubic yards of Hanford's mixed radioactive and chemical wastes by the end of next year, and another 468 cubic yards by December 2005. The total would fill 3,000 55-gallon barrels. n Fluor Hanford's contract with DOE requires it to treat 10,133 cubic yards of mixed wastes by June 30, 2006. Fluor expects to send at least 780 cubic yards through the GASVIT. n Bechtel Hanford is trying to figure out how to neutralize and dispose of 1,500 partly buried barrels of uranium chips stored in oil, which are just north of the 300 Area, three miles from Richland. Hanford's huge range fire last year came within a couple hundred yards of this site -- the closest the fire came to radioactive materials. "There is no other technology close to this in the United States, ready to be permitted and meet the Tri-Party Agreement milestones," said Ken Norris, Fluor Hanford senior counsel. "ATG's it," agreed Ty Blackford, Fluor manager for waste services. Consequently, this past spring, Fluor -- with DOE approval -- provided almost $3 million in federal money to carry ATG through the GASVIT test run. Some of that money already was owed ATG on an unrelated Hanford contract. But $1.9 million was an advance payment on wastes that Hanford hopes to send through the melter. DOE and Fluor officials stressed it was a one-time boost to help ATG, gambling it will be enough to get the GASVIT process operating. "Could we have egg on our face? Sure," said Pete Knollmeyer, DOE assistant manager for Hanford's central plateau activities. n n n Most of ATG's red ink comes from building the GASVIT facility. ATG finished design and began construction in 1999. But the price tag ballooned from $30 million to almost $40 million. About $8 million of the increase came from new regulations requiring updated technologies to be incorporated into the designs. But delays in the official test run are adding $800,000 to $1 million a month in labor and equipment costs, the company said. The project was largely financed through a $45 million loan ATG obtained from several unnamed banks in November 1999. Seven months later, the company missed its first payment, $5.75 million, according to the company's SEC filings. Mani said that June 30, 2000, payment was not part of the original loan agreement. "The banks changed the rules. ... It came as a surprise," he said. Mani said at least two factors contributed to the banks' concerns. One was their nervousness about the extent of additional debt ATG was planning. The other was ATG's decision to buy Massachusetts-based Molten Metals Technology -- a bankrupt melter company -- for $10.5 million in 1998. ATG then shut down many of those operations when it couldn't make them profitable. Since June 2000, unpaid interest payments, unpaid penalties and an unpaid emergency loan have increased the company's delinquent $5.75 million payment to about $9 million, according to SEC records. ATG finished building the GASVIT facility in August 2000, but still hasn't paid 10 contractors -- including six Tri-City companies -- about $2.8 million for that work, according to lawsuits and liens filed in Benton County. Mani said those contractors will be among the first creditors paid when ATG's cash flow improves. The Herald contacted several creditors, but all declined to comment, citing worries about getting paid. ATG also owes $189,964 in unpaid personal property taxes to Benton County. At the start of 2000, ATG employed 469 workers nationwide. After layoffs, including 26 in Richland, the company now employs 270 to 300 people -- 165 in Richland, 85 in Oak Ridge, Tenn., about 20 at ATG's headquarters in Hayward, Calif., and a handful elsewhere. "Morale is down," said an ATG employee in Richland who requested anonymity. "The big thing is you don't have the feeling of security." But if the Richland facility can get up to full speed, Mani estimates ATG could pay its overdue debts in three to six months. At least $67.6 million in potential revenue from a dozen federal and commercial contracts rides on getting that plant started. n n n Until 2000, ATG's history mostly had been a Horatio Alger story -- a feel-good tale of people starting with little to build a multimillion-dollar business. Doreen and Frank Chiu, both 47, grew up in the same Hong Kong neighborhood. In the 1970s, both earned business degrees at the University of Wisconsin, where they also fell in love. Frank Chiu paid for his trip to America with half of $6,000 his father won on a lottery ticket. The couple married and moved to San Francisco to be near some of Doreen Chiu's relatives. There, they joined Allied Nuclear Inc., which decontaminated and demolished nuclear and hazardous sites. When the company collapsed in 1984, the Chius bought the remains for $4 million -- using credit cards, savings and a high-interest bank loan. Doreen Chiu became president, and Frank Chiu vice president. Renamed Allied Technology Group, the company bought 4 acres in north Richland in 1988 and opened a one-building operation close to commercial and federal nuclear facilities. In its early years, ATG provided consultants and health physics technicians to the nuclear industry. Later, ATG expanded its expertise, its capabilities, its clients and its Richland site, which now has 17 buildings on 45 acres. It tackled about 150 waste projects from 1989 to 1998, according to financial documents. The main business now is treating low-level radioactive and chemical wastes. Low-level waste is mildly radioactive junk -- tools, clothes, debris and equipment from reactors, hospitals and government sites. In Richland, wastes are filtered, crushed, incinerated or glassified into safer forms and smaller volumes, then shipped back to the original owners or permanent disposal sites. It was a formula that worked. In 1997, ATG earned $19.1 million in revenue for a net profit of $1 million. That tripled to $60.7 million in revenue in 1999 for a net profit of $5.1 million. n n n In the mid-1990s, ATG decide to move into mixed wastes -- a major disposal headache for federal and commercial facilities, but a potentially lucrative income stream. Melting any wastes into a benign glass is more complicated than it sounds. It takes extremely high temperatures, and the chemistry is tricky. Mechanical wear and tear is a big problem. And the processes usually produce toxic gases and other wastes. All those difficulties increase in handling a mix of chemical and radioactive wastes. ATG is banking on a device called the Plasma Enhanced Melter, which was designed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland. The melter glassifies mixed wastes faster and reduces volumes more than its technological ancestors. It also can handle polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which most glassification processes cannot. Hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are the only gases that come out of the melter. A cleansing system breaks those down and recombines them into harmless carbon dioxide and steam. The melter's inventors left PNNL to create a Richland-based spin-off company, Integrated Environmental Technologies, in 1995. The melter won R&D Magazine's prestigious ranking as one of the top 100 technologies of 1998. IET has sold seven of its melter systems and two have been installed, said Jeff Surma, its president. One system is converting medical wastes into glass in Hawaii. And IET recently signed a contract to provide 200 melters to Japan over the next 20 years. The other installed system is the centerpiece of ATG's GASVIT facility. ATG believes it is the best technology to tackle mixed wastes. Under its contract with DOE, the firm was to pay the entire $30 million construction cost for the melter and get it running by late last year. Then Fluor would pay ATG up to $16 million for wastes treated through 2005 -- which could increase to $24 million if ATG's contract is extended to 2010. DOE's wastes are to provide 25 percent to 50 percent of the plant's mixed waste revenues, with the rest coming from commercial customers. n n n As ATG started building the GASVIT plant in 1999, trouble popped up elsewhere. In 1998, ATG bought the bankrupt Molten Metals Technology. The purchase looked good on paper, because ATG acquired that company's glassification facility in Oak Ridge, plus contracts to glassify low-level wastes from about 90 East Coast nuclear reactors. But Molten Metals' glassification equipment could not be operated cost-effectively. By 2000, ATG shut it down and laid off 110 workers. Since then, ATG has installed its own equipment and rehired some workers, but hasn't fully recovered. Back in Richland, the company lost more money when its existing melter for low-level radioactive wastes was damaged by a leak of molten glass. It took 18 months to get that melter back up to full speed. The increased GASVIT costs, problems at Oak Ridge and the melter leak in Richland combined to send ATG revenues into a nose dive. Its record revenues of $60.7 million in 1999 plummeted to $41.7 million in 2000, accompanied by a net loss of $25.5 million. n n n Whether Hanford's wastes carry ATG back into the black depends on the GASVIT's success. The first step is passing the long-delayed test run. ATG may glassify a limited amount of mixed wastes to work out any bugs in the system before tests are conducted for the state ecology and health departments and the Environmental Protection Agency. "I want to be damn sure we'll be there before we start the test," Mani said. Mani, IET's Surma and George Provencher, ATG's Richland site manager, said mechanical and engineering problems can be expected when assembling and fine-tuning complicated machinery. "Most of the problems have been minor," Surma said. The biggest problem has been with the equipment that converts toxic gases into harmless carbon dioxide and steam triggering automatic shutdowns, Provencher said. In its best trial run, the facility ran for up to 85 hours before automatically shutting down. It is supposed to operate nonstop. ATG remains hopeful. Provencher said, "We think we're pretty close to resolving this." The Richland plant is glassifying some wastes sporadically as it tries to fix the problems. Mani expects to decide in a week or so whether to schedule the official test run. There are precedents for a long shakedown period, Surma said. It took DOE's glassification plant in West Valley, N.Y., 18 months to go from final installation to full operation. DOE's waste glassification plant in Savannah River, S.C., took three years from finishing installation to being fully functional. DOE's and Bechtel's master plan for the central Hanford glassification plant calls for a four-year shakedown period. n n n Doreen Chiu sees the company's current troubles as a temporary setback. "It's a challenge. We're not going south. ... That's absolutely not what we're thinking," she said. ATG does appear to be at least starting to flatten out of its nose dive of 2000. In May, the company was part of a team that won a DOE contract at the Rocky Flats, Colo., site to treat mixed wastes. Some wastes could go to ATG's Richland plant. In July, ATG's Oak Ridge site won another contract to deal with wastes from nine Eastern utilities. ATG earned $9.8 million in the first quarter of this year -- posting a net loss of $2.1 million. Then in the second quarter, it posted $12 million in revenue, and made its first quarterly profit since 1999 -- $983,000. But its bottom line so far in 2001 is $21.8 million in revenue and $1.1 million in losses. Mani is high on ATG's future if the GASVIT process goes on line soon. And he is cautiously optimistic even if more delays materialize. "ATG will survive as a viable entity," he said. "It just won't be as profitable." Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Nuclear Experts Worry About Pakistan Las Vegas SUN September 24, 2001 UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The possibility of political instability in Pakistan because of its promised help to the United States following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has nuclear experts worried about the South Asian nation's nuclear arsenal. Some participants at a Monday seminar of nuclear and arms control experts at the United Nations worried who would control Pakistan's weapons-grade nuclear material if the government collapsed. "Instability of the regime in Pakistan is worrying," said Patricia Lewis, a nuclear physicist who heads the Geneva-based U.N. Institute for Disarmament Research, which organized the seminar. "If we had genuine democratic control in Pakistan, we might not have the same concerns." Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the country's military chief, overthrew a civilian government in a bloodless coup in 1999. U.S. officials say the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington is Osama bin Laden, the fugitive Saudi millionaire believed to be enjoying the protection of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Musharraf's offer to help the United States is considered key because Pakistan borders Afghanistan and has extensive intelligence on that country's Taliban rulers. However, the Pakistani government's support for Washington has stirred intense opposition at home from anti-American Muslim militants. Pakistan's U.N. Ambassador Shamshad Ahmad called the concerns about the country's nuclear arsenal "unwarranted and baseless apprehensions." "I can only reject any such concerns because our nuclear command and control system is in very responsible hands," he said. "We are capable of taking care our responsibilities as a nuclear member state." Terence Taylor, a retired British army colonel and former U.N. weapons inspector for Iraq who heads the U.S. office of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said he thought the nuclear material was safe for now because it's under military control. "I think they will keep their arsenal secure, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't worry about it," Taylor said. Protesters in Pakistan have burned effigies of President Bush and vowed to fight U.S. forces if they attack Afghanistan. Bin Laden has called on the Pakistani people to join a jihad, or holy war, against America. Lewis said some countries may help Pakistan secure its nuclear arsenal at a time of instability. But she also warned that helping Pakistan protect its nuclear arsenal could give legitimacy to those weapons. Washington has already lifted sanctions on Pakistan and India, two rivals who conducted nuclear tests in 1998. The two countries have fought three wars in as many decades. Rose Gottemoeller, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the international community should consider taking nuclear weapons out of Pakistan in case of political turmoil. Gottemoeller estimated Pakistan had enough nuclear material for 20 to 30 warheads. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 2 Las Vegas among cities developing responses to terrorism Las Vegas SUN September 24, 2001 LAS VEGAS (AP) - Emergency planners are preparing to treat tens of thousands of injured victims as they plan southern Nevada's response to a possible terrorist attack. Doctors are learning to spot biological warfare illnesses. Antidotes are being hidden. Hospitals are connecting to a high-tech communications system, and residents are being urged to "think like terrorists" to help respond to or prevent attacks. Meanwhile, officials are considering whether large hotels and casinos should have annual evacuation drills. The effort is part of a $50 billion federal effort to develop the Metropolitan Medical Response System to deal with the aftermath of biological, chemical or nuclear terrorism in 98 cities nationwide. Mike Myers, the system's Las Vegas-area coordinator, said training rescue workers, stockpiling pharmaceuticals and designating mass casualty sites should be done by the end of the year. "We've been planning for numbers that were much greater than those in New York," Myers told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, referring to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, where authorities have increased to 6,453 the estimate of the number of dead and missing. More than 6,000 other people have been reported injured. "We could handle something similar," Myers said, "but it would still be chaotic." Richard Brenner, fire protection engineer for the Clark County Fire Department, said a complete evacuation of the major resorts could take up to five hours. "This would be extremely disruptive," MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said of evacuation drills. "Unfortunately, after what happened, this is something we will have to address." Officials say the Las Vegas system can handle about 10,000 "walking wounded" patients, but would be overwhelmed if large numbers of victims are critically injured. As part of the plan, four 100-member medical strike teams - each with doctors, nurses, paramedics and the National Guard - have been developed to care for victims at designated "casualty points." Only the most severely injured or sick would go to hospitals. The rest will be routed to locations, such as the Thomas &Mack Center at UNLV, Cashman Field in Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Motor Speedway north of the city. "In most terrorist events we've seen, there are usually large numbers of fatalities and large numbers of the walking wounded," Myers said. "Very few people fall right in the middle." Other cities are using the Las Vegas plan as a guideline, said Dr. William Piggott, director of the office of emergency preparedness for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Piggott doles out federal funding for the Las Vegas plan and has been monitoring its development. "We're really focusing on the training right now and everybody is working frantically," said Bob Andrews, director of the Clark County emergency management office. "We're planning a full-scale exercise in October with area hospitals in case a biological or chemical weapon is released to make people sick." In case of a biological attack, Myers must make sure sufficient antibiotics from local hospitals and pharmacies will be available. To combat the possible release of sarin, mustard gas or chlorine, Myers has purchased and stored more than 1,000 doses of antidotes in undisclosed locations throughout the valley. Part of the plan also includes training hundreds of doctors, nurses and rescue workers to handle safety equipment in case they're forced to work zones contaminated with nerve agents, gases, disease or radiation. The training also includes teaching emergency room doctors and nurses to quickly identify illnesses that might be related to biological warfare. Hundreds of professionals are learning how to decontaminate people exposed to disease or chemicals, how to clean up an attack site and where to find and distribute antidotes. "If doctors can't identify the weird illness, it might take weeks to figure out where it's coming from," Myers said, "and that could mean the difference between losing 10,000 lives as opposed to 50,000." All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 3 Father of Neutron Bomb: Use It on Osama September 25, 2001 Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2001 WASHINGTON – Top officials in the Bush administration and in Congress have been urged to use a small neutron bomb to wipe out Osama bin Laden in a quick first strike in the war on terrorism. Sam Cohen, the scientist who invented the neutron bomb, has outlined for these officials his plan to 'do in' the Taliban and terrorist Osama bin Laden, and do it quickly. That, says Cohen, would go right to the core of the terrorist threat and at the same time satisfy the typically American impatience. The neutron bomb has a limited blast and causes little collateral damage or lasting radioactivity while killing its intended targets. "My offhand guess is that the majority of Americans couldn't care less how we 'do in' the Taliban and bin Laden and company, provided we get it done and [quickly]," he told NewsMax.com in a phone interview from his West Coast home. Cohen, whose views were often accepted by President Reagan, agrees with President Bush regarding the need for the American people to resolve to hunker down for the long term. The global terrorist threat is indeed "going to go on for years," Cohen agrees, but he is telling policy-makers in Washington, "the name of the game right now is Afghanistan [and] bin Laden." What we need, he says, is a quick, highly visible strike to begin that war – one that Americans can see now. That, he believes, would stiffen the public's resolve for the future. The president has already told Americans that the war itself won't be quick and easy and could take years. "I don't think they're going to be very tolerant of a prolonged [ground war,]" argues the scientist. He cites Korea and Vietnam as examples of the limits of America's patience. At the same time, Cohen points to the 1991 Desert Storm as an example of an air war of short duration that did not do the job, given that Saddam Hussein remains in office today, as powerful as ever, plus the fact that resulting civilian deaths in that conflict vastly outnumbered military casualties. Hardy consistent with the first President Bush's vow to wage "a Christian war," in Cohen's view. As a solution that would be both quick and effective, the author of "Shame: Confessions of the Father of the Neutron Bomb" proposes reconfiguring Minuteman missiles. Remove the thermonuclear "big bang" component (hundreds of kilotons). Once that is done, these weapons could be deployed to target the hideouts of terrorists in Afghanistan. Cohen says his sources tell him the U.S. has "fair intelligence" on the Taliban and "where their units and training camps are spread around." The problem with "bombing the hell out of them" is that "we don't know where these guys are, and they’re nobody's fool" and now that they know they're under attack, "they’re going to be on the move." They will "burrow and bury themselves" while continuing their training exercises. To counteract this requires, first, the "element of surprise." Secondly, there will be a need for a weapon that imposes "mass destruction" that is carefully targeted. Each Minuteman missile has three warheads. The thermonuclear component could be defused, while keeping the "trigger" at the kiloton level. "A kiloton bomb would do approximately the same amount of harm" as the hijacked airliners did to the World Trade Center Building. "We hit them unannounced. All the president has to do is punch a button to put the plan into operation, and [these reconfigured kiloton bombs] can be retargeted practically within minutes." Ridding the weapons of the thermonuclear component can be done "within days," Cohen argues. Further, they would take "considerably less than a half-hour" to reach their destinations. The "kiloton fission" would be a "deadly force," with a radius of about two-thirds of a mile "towards killing people who are exposed." That would be about a square mile, which "ought to cover the area of a training camp." The radioactive fallout would be relatively limited in terms of immediate death and death from prolonged effects. The neutron bomb stockpile was eliminated after the Gulf War. The weapon had the potential for destroying humans without destroying property. Peace activists around the world had denounced it for that reason. In fact, Cohen noted, in contrast to his famous invention, the kiloton bomb could destroy property. Also, whereas the neutron bomb can produce widespread radioactive fallout, the bomb he advocates for a quick strike in the current war is more carefully targeted. Cohen's plan is known to have elicited a very positive reaction in some Washington quarters. Where it goes from there has yet to be determined.Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: War on Terrorism NewsMax.com Privacy Statement ***************************************************************** 4 Bin Laden claims Islamic rights over Pak N-bombs rediff.com US edition: September 25, 2001 Sanjay Suri in London Suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden has claimed Islamic rights over Pakistan's nuclear bombs. "We supported the Pakistani people and congratulated them when god was gracious enough to enable them to acquire the nuclear weapon. We regard this as one of our rights, our Muslim rights," he said in an interview to the Qatar-based Arabic channel Al-Jazira. In the interview, bin Laden also said he is actively looking to pile up more nuclear weapons as well as chemical and biological weapons. "It is the duty of the Muslims to possess them." His intended targets reportedly are the US, Britain and Israel. In the interview reported in London's Daily Express, bin Laden says: "We are demanding our right to have the Americans evicted from the Islamic world and to prevent them from dominating us." Though the interview was recorded two years ago, its full contents were released only on Monday, the newspaper said. "We believe that the right to self-defence is to be enjoyed by all people. Israel is stockpiling hundreds of nuclear warheads and bombs and the Christian West is largely in possession of such weapons. Hence we regard this as a right," bin Laden reportedly said. It became clear from the interview that the use of the word "crusade" by US President George W. Bush has given bin Laden the means to push beliefs he held earlier. "There are two parties to the conflict. The world of Christianity, which is allied with Jews and Zionism, led by the United States, Britain and Israel," he said. The other "is the Islamic world." "In such a conflict, it is unacceptable to see the first party mount attacks, desecrate my land and holy shrines and plunder Muslims' oil. When Muslims put up resistance against this party, they are branded as terrorists. This is stupidity. It's an insult to people's intelligence." "We believe it is our religious duty to resist this occupation with all the power we have and to punish it using the same means it is pursuing against us." Indo-Asian News Service ***************************************************************** 5 Bush must beware of Asia's nuclear rivalry - CNN.com - September 23, 2001 [pro nuclear demo] Indian demonstrators welcome nuclear tests in 1998 By Mark Tully President Bush has identified America's enemies as "a network of terrorists and every government that supports them." Earlier in his speech to Congress he defined that network as Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, and there can be no doubt that the government he was referring to was the Taliban administration in Afghanistan. But he has been warned by countless commentators about the lesson of history for those who go to war with Afghanistan. The Soviet Union thought that lesson didn't apply to an army equipped with all the accurate and heavy firepower of late twentieth century armor. President Bush is wisely being more cautious. He is not blundering into Afghanistan as the Soviet army did. Clumsy response [kashmir patrol] Indian troops patrol Kashmir streets where conflict rules He has carefully considered all the options and assessed the risks, but there is one lesson of history he doesn't seem to have learned. There would be no Taliban, perhaps no Osama bin Laden, Pakistan might well be a democracy, and there would be no proxy-war in Kashmir, if America had not matched the Soviet Union's clumsiness in its response to the invasion of Afghanistan. By pouring arms into Pakistan to support the Afghan Mujahiddin, America laid the foundations of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Indeed, the CIA is reported to have recruited bin Laden to its cause. They also propped up the Pakistani military ruler of the time, General Ziaul Haq, even though they deplored his execution of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the prime minister he ousted. In Kashmir, whether the insurrection is led by terrorists, as India insists they are, or freedom fighters, as Pakistan says they are, it has certainly sprung from the Mujahiddin the Americans nurtured to fight a brutal proxy war. Dangers of instability [Bhutto and Gandhi] Pakistan's Bhutto (R) with Indira Gandhi at a summit in 1972 Now president Bush has called on Pakistan to assist him in an Afghan war, ignoring the present even graver dangers of instability in South Asia. Pakistan's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, has told his people that he had no option, that he had to agree to help America to protect the country's interests. The radical Islamic groups in Pakistan have responded predictably by calling for demonstrations and strikes to protest against the general. After Friday prayers is the time for demonstrations in Pakistan and the first Friday seems to have passed with fewer demonstrators and less violence than expected. But there is a lesson from history here, too. It was Friday protests that brought down Bhutto in the '70s. Passionate address I watched his passionate address to the nation in which he told the Islamic parties that he understood their strategy, which was to hold violent demonstrations, provoke the police into firing, then declare the dead to be martyrs. Bhutto went on to assure the nation that he could and would resist this. He was right about the strategy and wrong about the outcome. The Islamic groups now protesting against America have their martyrs already. Three people were shot in Friday's demonstrations in Karachi. In 1977 Bhutto had to call out the army to curb the demonstrators because the police could not be trusted to fire on Muslim demonstrators. But that was an army which still upheld the tradition it had inherited from the British Raj, the tradition that soldiers obey orders, whatever their personal beliefs. General Zia was an Islamic warrior and some commentators say he left an army in which as many as 40 percent of the officers and men would be sympathetic to the demonstrators they might be ordered to shoot. Musharraf must be hoping he does not have to give that order. Widespread fear Pakistan's cause in Kashmir was one of the national issues Musharraf said he was protecting. There is widespread fear in India that in exchange for Musharraf's support against the Taliban, the pressure on him to stop the proxy war in Kashmir will be lifted. That will enrage the Hindu groups in India who are the hardcore supporters of the Bharatiya |Janata Party (BJP), which heads the present ruling coalition. India's prime minister will come under pressure to retaliate. It is not too far-fetched to suggest that could lead to a very different war than the one President Bush is planning, a war between two nuclear nations. So while sensible Indians realize they have nothing to gain from the fall of Musharraf and the destabilisation of Pakistan, with all the scope that offers to the Islamic groups. At the same time they must be hoping that America doesn't repeat the mistake made when it last intervened in Afghanistan, by treating Pakistan as a special ally and allowing Musharraf the free hand once given to Zia. President Bush would be well advised to keep South Asia out of his war. =] © 2001 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. ***************************************************************** 6 DOE to develop plan for conversion facilities; work would be done on depleted uranium hexafluoride Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 11:46 a.m. on Tuesday, September 25, 2001 from staff reports The Department of Energy is planning to prepare an environmental impact statement concerning the construction, operation and eventual closing of two facilities that would be used to convert depleted uranium hexafluoride. DOE has a legacy of approximately 700,000 metric tons of depleted uranium hexafluoride that was created over the last 40 years. It is contained in 57,700 cylinders stored at DOE facilities at Portsmouth, Ohio, and Paducah, Ky., and at the Oak Ridge K-25 site, according to a DOE press release. This material was created at each facility during processing to make natural uranium suitable for use as fuel, such as that used in nuclear power plants. DOE's preferred alternative is to construct two conversion facilities, one at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site and another at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site. The cylinders currently stored at Oak Ridge would be transported to Portsmouth for conversion, the press release stated. The conversion products such as the depleted uranium, as well as fluorine components, would either be stored, put to beneficial uses, or disposed of at an appropriate disposal facility. DOE is seeking input from the public on its plans during a scoping period that is now under way and extends through Nov. 26. Community members can provide comments on the plan during a meeting from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, at Oak Ridge Associated Universities' Pollard Auditorium, 210 Badger Ave. Comments may also be mailed directly to Kevin Shaw, Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management, Office of Site Closure -- Oak Ridge (EM-32), 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874; faxed to Shaw at (301) 903-3479; or e-mailed to DUF6.comments@em.doe.gov (type "NOI Comments" in the subject line). To ensure consideration, comments must be postmarked, faxed or e-mailed by Nov. 26. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 7 EPA begins latest environmental sampling project in Oak Ridge Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 11:37 a.m. on Tuesday, September 25, 2001 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff The Environmental Protection Agency's environmental sampling effort in the Scarboro neighborhood got under way Monday. EPA began taking soil, sediment and water samples Monday and was to continue to do so today, according to Wesley Lambert, a spokesman for the agency. He added that the effort could be extended a day or two depending on weather conditions. The purpose of this sampling is to validate and verify a percentage of the results from a 1998 study conducted by the Department of Energy and Florida A University. The study indicated the Scarboro neighborhood contained elevated levels of contaminants in the soil. For example, the results showed consistently higher than normal levels of uranium 235 -- enriched uranium -- and uranium 238 in soil samples. Scarboro is located close to the Y-12 National Security Complex, a nuclear weapons facility. While in Oak Ridge, EPA planned to take soil samples from the following areas: 280 S. Benedict Ave.; 117/119 Spellman Ave.; 190/194 Hampton Road; 192 S. Benedict Ave.; and the South Hills Golf Club and near the Scarboro Community Center. Sediment was also to be collected from 211 S. Benedict Ave. and 201/203 S. Dillard Ave., and surface water samples were to be taken from 211 S. Benedict Ave. and the South Hills Golf Club. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 8 INTERVIEW - Nuclear materials difficult for terrorists to use Planet Ark Environmental News: Mail this story to a friend | Printer friendly version AUSTRIA: September 24, 2001 VIENNA - Terrorists would have difficulty in using nuclear materials in an attack or in exploding a nuclear bomb if they managed to obtain one, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said last week. Mohammed ElBaradei, Director-General of the Vienna-based IAEA, also said that a suicide attack on a nuclear power plant from the air would not necessarily lead to a nuclear disaster. Even if terrorists succeeded in obtaining a nuclear bomb, it would not be easy to detonate, he told Reuters in an interview. "The weapons are not just sitting ready-made for them. As far as I know, most countries do not keep them ready-assembled," said ElBaradei, who was re-elected this week to a second four-year term as head of the world's nuclear watchdog. "There are a lot of security measures before you assemble a bomb and put it on a missile and trigger it." The IAEA's 132 member countries ended their annual conference last week by agreeing "to devote attention to the potential implications of terrorist acts for the physical protection of nuclear material and nuclear facilities." U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham called on Monday for tougher controls on the export of nuclear materials in the aftermath of last week's attacks in the United States, which killed more than 6,000 people. NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY NOT INVULNERABLE ElBaradei said nuclear technology was not invulnerable to possible use by terrorists. "There is obviously a degree of vulnerability in any technology. Any group with malicious intentions can do a lot of harm - whether it's a bridge, an electric power station, nuclear reactor or a dam. The possibilities are infinite." But the attacks in New York and Washington had demonstrated that everyday technology could be used to devastating effect and security standards in the nuclear industry were exceptionally high. "In general, if I look at the nuclear sector, we are much more security-conscious than, say, the chemical or pharmaceutical industry. There is lots of horror which you can do with chemical and biological agents as much as nuclear." Conceivable scenarios for a nuclear terrorist threat included detonation of a nuclear bomb, deliberate dispersal of radioactive material in a populated area and attacking a nuclear energy plant. "We are aware that small amounts of materials have been smuggled, but they are mostly radioactive sources and not material that can be used for bombs," ElBaradei said. Assembling a nuclear bomb was not easy. "It requires a great deal of sophistication - to have the quantity of material, to have the detonation. I think that's quite difficult." "A scenario which is much easier is just dispersion - dissemination of radioactivity," he added. Releasing nuclear material from an everyday source such as a hospital could be disruptive and cause a lot of anxiety. "The scenarios are infinite. You don't need to have nuclear material, it can be radioactive sources. It doesn't have to be explosive material. You can put it in a water supply, you can do a lot." But strong safeguards are already in place and these will be strengthened after last week's attacks. "We have a physical security system which is, I would say, adequate, not excellent yet. We are trying to work hard to improve that." "We have a good safeguards system which enables us to detect whether any nuclear material which can be used for detonation is missing. We would know right away." PLANTS TO WITHSTAND PLANE CRASHES ElBaradei said the possibility of terrorist attacks, earthquakes and plane crashes had been taken into account in the design of nuclear power plants. "I would not say they are completely invulnerable, but nor would I say there is an absolute guarantee that any aerial attack would automatically lead to a disaster. The truth is somewhere in between," he said. "Like with any other technology there is no absolute guarantee. But they are not automatically an easy target." If terrorists overran a nuclear power plant, they would have difficulty putting the nuclear material to illicit use. "Material inside the core of a reactor is almost impossible to handle. The terrorists would be the first to die if they came near the core," ElBaradei said. "To move from nuclear material in a reactor to making a bomb - that's almost impossible." The IAEA had already made extensive efforts to increase the security of nuclear materials but members would review all security procedures in the wake of the attacks in the U.S. "The conference has asked me to undertake a comprehensive review of all our programmes in the area of physical protection, illicit trafficking, safety, emergency response - we need to look at all that and see what else we can do," ElBaradei said. Story by Richard Murphy REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 9 Russia: More problems for Kursk divers reported BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 24, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Murmansk, 24 September: Divers working at the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk, have faced new difficulties after a new method of clearing holes on the seventh and eighth sections proved to be inefficient, sources at the Northern Fleet headquarters told ITAR-TASS on Monday [24 September]. Now, they will have to remove the guides already installed on the seventh and eighth compartments and clear the holes in the old way, that is to manually cut away the debris. That will delay the following operations. The Giant-4 barge has to drift in the Barents Sea close to the operation site. As soon as the divers finish their work, it will be let into the area. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English 0728 gmt 24 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 10 U.S. Navy Bomb Practice at Vieques Las Vegas SUN September 24, 2001 VIEQUES, Puerto Rico- A U.S. destroyer fired shells at the Vieques bombing range Monday in the first full-scale military exercises since the United States declared war on terrorism. Protesters cut through a Navy fence and threatened anti-war demonstrations. Most protesters had pledged to stop their civil disobedience campaign of invading Navy lands in favor of peaceful vigils to show solidarity with the Sept. 11 terror attack victims, and to avoid raising tensions as Washington prepares for war. But some hard-liners cut through about 60 feet of the Navy fence around the training ground, police on Vieques said. Opponents have for years protested the live bombing exercises on their island of 9,100 people. The Navy said the exercises began Monday morning with non-explosive 5-inch shells. From a hill, reporters heard distant thuds and watched smoke rise from the guns of the USS The Sullivans. Navy jets were expected to drop inert bombs on the firing range on the island's eastern tip later in the exercises. In recent years, groups opposed to the training have mobilized protesters to invade Navy lands and be arrested for trespassing. But since the attacks, most have decided to limit their opposition to peaceful anti-war vigils, protest leader Robert Rabin said. "Any participant in civil disobedience is always in danger," Rabin said. But with the Navy on alert, "there is going to be a marked increase in tension that could result in a more violent response." The Navy has used the island to train for every major U.S. conflict over the last six decades. Opponents say the exercises harm the environment and the health of the island's 9,100 people, accusations the Navy denies. In 1999 a civilian security guard was killed by bombs dropped off target on the firing range. The aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy and its battle group of cruisers, destroyers, frigates and submarines were already in the area on Sunday, practicing maneuvers far offshore. "Obviously, everybody's a little more on edge," Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr Katherine Goode said. About 12,000 sailors were participating in the exercises, which could last up to 23 days. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory whose residents can move freely to the mainland. However, Puerto Ricans do not have voting rights in U.S. presidential and congressional elections unless they live on the mainland. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 11 Cleaning Up After Chemical & Nuclear Warfare By Adam Creed, Newsbytes MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 21 Sep 2001, 7:38 AM CST The Green Cross is an organization that informs and attempts to act on the social, environmental, and economic consequences of war, especially the Cold War. The group also researches issues such as the impact of the Gulf War on the Kuwait environment, and calls for assistance for people and communities afflicted by chemical and nuclear contamination, e.g. through Kids-for-Kids health improvement camps in Belorussia and Russia. World Wide Web: http://www.gci.ch/GreenCrossPrograms/legacy/envlegwar.html. Reported by Newsbytes.com, (20010921 /WIRES REVIEWS, ASIA/INTERNETUP2/PHOTO) © 2001 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 12 LV plan for dealing with terrorist attack's after... LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: NEWS: Monday, September 24, 2001 Recent catastrophe galvanizes local emergency workers to step up their preparation efforts By JOELLE BABULA REVIEW-JOURNAL Las Vegas emergency workers are hiding supplies of antidotes throughout the valley. They are teaching doctors to spot strange illnesses related to biological warfare. They are installing high-tech communications systems in area hospitals. And they are urging all Las Vegans to "think like terrorists" to help respond to or prevent an attack in the community. Valley health, fire and law enforcement officials for the past year have been developing a plan to handle mass destruction, injury and death in the event of a terrorist attack. The city is sharing $50 billion in federal contracts with 97 other cities to develop a plan -- the Metropolitan Medical Response System -- to deal with the aftermath of biological, chemical or nuclear terrorism. The Las Vegas plan, which includes extensive training for rescue workers, pharmaceutical stockpiling and the designation of mass casualty sites, is almost complete, said Mike Myers, the system's local coordinator. "We've been planning for numbers that were much greater than those in New York," Myers said, referring to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. "We could handle something similar, but it would still be chaotic." The recent catastrophe has galvanized local emergency workers to step up preparation efforts, officials say. They say the city's response system can handle about 10,000 "walking wounded" patients, but would be overwhelmed if there were large numbers of victims who were critically injured. As part of the plan, four 100-member medical strike teams -- each made up of doctors, nurses, paramedics and the National Guard -- have been developed to care for victims at designated "casualty points" throughout the valley. Only the most severely injured or sick will go to area hospitals. The rest will be routed to locations such as the Thomas &Mack Center, Cashman Field and the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "In most terrorist events we've seen, there are usually large numbers of fatalities and large numbers of the walking wounded," Myers said. "Very few people fall right in the middle." Myers is responsible for writing the emergency plan and getting approval from the federal government each step of the way. He's been working on the system since last September and expects to have it finished by the end of the year. Other cities also preparing for the possibility of an attack are using the Las Vegas plan as a guideline, said Dr. William Piggott, director of the office of emergency preparedness for the Department of Health and Human Services. Piggott doles out the federal funding for the Las Vegas plan and has been monitoring its development. In case of a biological attack, Myers must make sure sufficient antibiotics from local hospitals and pharmacies will be available. To combat the possible release of sarin, mustard gas or chlorine, Myers has purchased and stored more than 1,000 doses of antidotes in undisclosed locations throughout the valley. Part of the plan also includes training hundreds of doctors, nurses and rescue workers to handle safety equipment in case they're forced to work in hot zones, or areas contaminated with nerve agents, gases, disease or radiation. "We're really focusing on the training right now and everybody is working frantically," said Bob Andrews, director of Clark County's office of emergency management. "We're planning a full-scale exercise in October with area hospitals in case a biological or chemical weapon is released to make people sick." The training also includes teaching emergency room doctors and nurses to spot quickly any bizarre illnesses that might be related to biological warfare. Hundreds of valley professionals are learning what symptoms to look for, how to decontaminate anyone exposed to disease or chemicals, how to clean up the site of an attack and where to find and distribute antidotes, if necessary. "If it's a covert operation, terrorists are not going to announce they've released a biological device; people are just going to start getting ill," Myers said. "If doctors can't identify the weird illness, it might take weeks to figure out where it's coming from, and that could mean the difference between losing 10,000 lives as opposed to 50,000." To help all emergency personnel keep track of how many people are injured, where the antidotes are and what hospitals have open beds, Myers has installed a high-tech communications system in all area hospitals. The Internet-based computer system gives doctors and paramedics real-time access to information regarding hospital closures, open-bed status and other vital information about the conditions of patients as they arrive at area facilities. Las Vegas emergency room doctors say that in spite of notoriously clogged hospitals and long waits for patients to see doctors, area facilities are prepared to handle a crisis. They expect the medical strike teams and designated casualty points will relieve the usual stress of crowded emergency rooms. "The only thing that would put a hospital out of commission is if somebody decided to blow up a hospital," said Dr. Dale Carrison, director of the emergency department at University Medical Center. Besides training medical workers and rescue personnel to deal with mass destruction, emergency officials are also looking at whether large hotels, casinos and other buildings should have evacuation drills annually. Officials have yet to approach properties about the idea, but are planning to do so, Andrews said. "There are a lot of things we have to think about that we've never thought of before," he said. Richard Brenner, fire protection engineer for the Clark County Fire Department, said a complete evacuation drill at the major hotels and casinos could take up to five hours. "This would be extremely disruptive," MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said of the evacuation drills. "Unfortunately, after what happened, this is something we will have to address." Heavily populated areas such as casinos could be seen as a prime target area for a terrorist, Piggott said. Other West Coast cities with dense, tourist-laden areas such as San Francisco and Los Angeles also are considered to be at risk for attack. In the event of a Las Vegas attack, the response plan is designed to manage the chaos only for the first 24 to 48 hours, Myers said. After that, federal assistance and help from neighboring states would arrive. "If something of New York's magnitude happened here, our hospital would bring in extra nurses by bus or by plane," said George Jones, the safety director at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. He said the hospital's parent company, HCA, has more than 200 facilities across the country and is prepared to ship in extra help if necessary. The recent attacks reinforced a lesson for rescue personnel, Brenner said. They always must consider the possibility of terrorist involvement when responding to what may appear to be an accident. He said terrorists often strike twice -- the first assault to draw rescue workers to the scene, the second attack to kill them. "If you think it's a possible terrorist attack, you may have to keep rescue workers back," Brenner said. "We need to rethink our tactics and make sure our people are attacking the fire from the outside. We all need to think more like terrorists." Both Brenner and Myers said evacuation efforts, however, would begin immediately, even if a terrorist attack was suspected. "When there's people inside the building, we will try to get them out as fast as we can," Myers said. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 13 Bush Must Warn Rogue States of Nuclear Retaliation September 25, 2001 Bush Must Warn Rogue States of Nuclear Retaliation Col. Stanislav Lunev Monday, Sept. 24, 2001 Col. Stanislav Lunev is the highest-ranking military spy ever to defect from Russia. He continues as a security consultant to the U.S. government. He filed this report from an undisclosed location in Europe. After the Sept. 11 tragedy, some liberal Americans and many European politicians have expressed serious reservations about U.S. plans to fight a "war" against international terrorists. Clearly, such politicians and pundits do not understand the danger from the most aggressive evil of our day: international terrorism. These groups clearly have received sufficient funds, supplies, support and hospitality from rogue nations – all of whom have close ties to Russia's military and intelligence agencies. Intelligence experts have told me that there are more than 5,000 highly trained terrorists in the U.S. and Europe who are in permanent readiness for new attacks against the civilized world. Now that we are in a full-blown war, the stakes are high for each side. No one can rule out that these terrorists may have biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. No one can rule out their use. International terrorism currently has enough power to challenge the West and, using weapons of mass destruction, perhaps hit us with a devastating blow. The planning, network and resources involved in the operation of Sept. 11 suggests to me that one or more countries were behind this, and also that Russian intelligence agencies were likely aware of the possibility of these attacks. Moreover, I firmly believe that the perpetrators of these acts carefully considered the aftermath of their attacks. The dramatic increase of short-selling American Airlines and United Airlines stocks two weeks before the Sept. 11 tragedy is just one clue. No doubt, the groups also realized America would retaliate. It is after America's retaliation that we must worry about the next attack, which may be an escalation in scope and severity over the ones of Sept. 11. This is why America's response must be swift and wide-ranging: hitting terrorist networks abroad and uncovering other networks here that may have been preparing for years for the "second wave" of attacks. My suggestion is that the U.S. must warn rogue states, i.e., Iraq, Iran, Syria and Libya, that if these groups use a weapon of mass destruction on an American city, the U.S. military will not do any investigations, there will be no delay – the U.S. will use similar weapons on their population centers and military targets. This policy is one used by Israel, one that has kept it safe despite many enemies. Also, there is little time to uncover terror networks here in the U.S. I would advise the U.S. government, without delay, to offer a large reward of $5 million to $25 million to any person with any knowledge of planned terrorist attacks against the U.S. or Europe. Right now, the U.S. is using this reward system for the capture of Osama bin Laden, but the reward needs to be offered here. It is very possible that, for such a large amount of money, one of the terrorists, or a friend of a terrorist, will come to the FBI and help them foil a plot. I am surprised this has not already been done. Another caveat: The U.S. is currently moving forces to the Mideast in the area of Afghanistan. I am sure American leaders have no plans to get bogged down in a Vietnam-style war in Afghanistan, as we Russians did. But I am worried about such a large concentration of U.S. forces so far from the homeland of the United States. Please be on guard. America's military is already very weak after 10 years of signficant cuts. Do not concentrate your forces abroad and leave them vulnerable to weapons of mass destruction that terrorist nations may now have. Find out what Col. Lunev told the CIA. NewsMax has just released Col. Lunev's audiotapes "CIA Files: Defector Reveals Russia's Secrets" – Click Here Now. Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: War on Terrorism NewsMax.com ***************************************************************** 14 Nuclear Security chief visits Y-12 2 Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:00 p.m. on Monday, September 24, 2001 Gen. John Gordon, left, under secretary for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, visited the Y-12 National Security Complex Wednesday for a review of security measures at the plant. During the visit, Gordon thanked security personnel for their work providing high levels of security at the site. Pictured with Gordon are, from left, Ann Underwood, security police officer; Lynn Calvert, senior vice president and general manager of the Wackenhut Services Oak Ridge team, Commanders Larry Osborn and Pitt Tarrant; and Bill Brumley, manager of the Y-12 office of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the quasi-independent agency within the Department of Energy that oversees the nuclear weapons complex. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 15 Land-use group to meet Friday Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:00 p.m. on Monday, September 24, 2001 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff The Department of Energy's recently created Land-Use Planning Focus Group is set to get down to business Friday. The meeting, which begins at 10 a.m. and is expected to end by mid-afternoon, will be held at the multipurpose room at the Central Services Center, 100 Woodbury Lane. It is open to the public. DOE officials say the focus group will perform an extensive review of the near- and long-term land requirements of DOE's science, environmental management and national security missions at the Oak Ridge facilities. In the end, DOE hopes to have a better understanding of the current and future land parcel needs of the local communities, as well as other regional and state objectives. Some of the organizations represented in the group are Advocates for the Oak Ridge Reservation, the city of Oak Ridge, the Oak Ridge Heritage Association, the Tennessee Economic and Community Development Department, the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee. However, missing from the focus group are the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee and the Oak Ridge Site-Specific Advisory Board. Both organizations examine environmental management activities on DOE's 34,242-acre Oak Ridge Reservation. "Regarding the LOC, we decided not to have an 'oversight' type organization in the group as it could present a potential conflict of interest for the LOC," said DOE spokesman Steven Wyatt. "The LOC is welcome and encouraged to attend all meetings and provide its review and comment to the focus group throughout the process," Wyatt added. The Local Oversight Committee is funded by a grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's DOE-Oversight Division, which is in turn funded by the Department of Energy under terms of the Tennessee Oversight Agreement. Regarding the Site-Specific Advisory Board, Wyatt said there was a concern about expanding the group's workload and charter. "There is a tremendous amount of work for the SSAB to do within the DOE environmental management program and there was a concern that they would not be able to effectively tackle that work as well as be an active participant in the focus group process," Wyatt said. "Because three members of the focus group are recent past members of the SSAB, we believe that the values of the SSAB can be expressed by those members. At the same time, since the SSAB meets at a regular time, we will be able to meet with the group and brief them on the focus group activities." The Site-Specific Advisory Board is a federally appointed citizens' panel that was formed in 1995 and chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Wyatt said a number of other groups have asked that they be included. "However, it appears that there are members of the focus group that belong to those groups," he said. "We are asking that such people represent the full range of their backgrounds and organizational memberships as best they can." Wyatt said it is DOE's intent not to have a representation of all the various groups and organizations in and around Oak Ridge, but to establish a group of people who could represent environmental, business and development interests across the local, regional and more national perspectives. He added that the consensus among focus group members is that the group is balanced. Future meetings of the focus group for the remainder of the year will be held on the second Friday of the month: Oct. 12, Nov. 9 and Dec. 14. All meetings will be held at the multipurpose room at the Central Services Center and will be open to the public. DOE plans to hold a couple of public "town hall" meetings on the land-use planning process in the future. Dates for those meetings are not available at this time. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 16 Department of Energy Announces Major Effort to Use High Temperature Superconductivity energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: September 24, 2001 [Print Friendly Version] ---> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham today announced the selection of seven teams to receive approximately $57 million to support research advancing the introduction of high temperature superconductivity (HTS) into the American marketplace. The DOE contribution will be matched by an estimated $60 million by the industry teams – for a total investment of $117 million in the effort. Superconductivity is the ability of certain materials to carry large electrical current without the resistance losses of conventional materials such as copper. HTS can be used in electric power devices such as motors and generators, medical diagnostic technology and for electricity transmission in power lines. Superconducting power equipment typically will be half the size and have half the energy losses compared to conventional equipment. "This work will help provide solutions to power quality and electric reliability problems, bringing the benefits of superconductivity more quickly to the U.S. electrical industry and the American people," said Energy Secretary Abraham. "These highly visible public-private partnerships encourage industry to develop and test prototype equipment for the U.S. electric power system and, finally, the awards expand the Department's research and development of Superconductivity to support the President's National Energy Plan." The focus of these new efforts will be the development and field testing of technologies that will improve the efficiency, capacity, and reliability of our electricity infrastructure. In addition, the selected proposals include groundbreaking end-use projects that will develop technologies based on superconducting magnets. DOE's cost share will be provided over 3 to 4 years. Exact amounts for the following project awards are being negotiated: Demonstration of a Pre-Commercial Long-Length Superconducting Cable System Operating in the Power Transmission Network on Long Island, N.Y., submitted by a team led by Pirelli Cables &Systems, Lexington, S.C. Other team members are American Superconductor (Westborough, Mass.), Keyspan - Long Island Power Authority (Uniondale, N.Y.), Electric Power Research Institute (Palo Alto, Calif.), and Air Liquide (France). A 77 megawatt ampere (MWA) pre-commercial system will be installed in a congested urban substation on Long Island, N.Y., to demonstrate that this new technology can reliably improve power delivery in congested urban areas. Approximate Funding: DOE $8.9 million; private $9 million Design and Develop a 100 MVA Superconducting Generator, submitted by a team led by General Electric Corporate Research and Development, Niskayuna, N.Y. Other team members are New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (Albany, N.Y.), PG National Energy Group (Bethesda, Md.), American Electric Power (Columbus, Ohio), and Praxair (Danbury, Conn.). The proposed generator will have improved efficiency, higher capacity, and improved reactive power capability compared to conventional technology. Approximate Funding: DOE $12 million; private $14 million Long Length High Temperature Superconducting Power Cable to be operated at a Columbus, Ohio, substation, submitted by a team led by Southwire Company, Carrollton, Ga. Other team members are American Electric Power (Columbus, Ohio), PHPK (Ohio), Nordic Superconductor Technologies (Denmark), 3M Company (Maplewood, Minn.), Integrations Concepts Enterprises (Smyrna, Ga.), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, (Oak Ridge, Tenn). A 1000-foot long, 3-phase, superconducting cable will be installed at the AEP substation at Bixby Road, Columbus, Ohio. This project will demonstrate a long-length power cable that replaces an existing oil-filled, underground power cable with limited current-carrying capacity. Approximate Funding: DOE $9 million; private $9 million Transformer Component, High Temperature Superconducting Substation submitted by a team led by IGC-SuperPower, Schenectady, N.Y. Other team members include Waukesha Electric Systems (Waukesha, Wis.), Southern California Edison (Rosemead, Calif.), and Air Products (Allentown, Penn.). This project will demonstrate a prototype utility-sized superconducting transformer to convert electricity from 66 kV to 12 kV at the end of a typical transmission system. Approximate Funding: DOE $15.6 million; private $15.6 million Cost Effective, Open Geometry Superconducting Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) System submitted by a team led by Oxford Instruments, Carteret, N.J. Other team members are Superconductive Components (Ohio), Oxford Magnet Technology, and Siemens Magnetic Resonance Division (Germany). This project will build and operate a cost-effective, open-geometry, superconducting MRI system with superconducting coils to be wound from continuously melt-processed, dip-coated BSCCO 2212 tape conductor. The higher field strength from superconducting magnets will expand the accessibility of this crucial, non-invasive, medical diagnostic technology. Approximate Funding: DOE $580 thousand; private $549 thousand Superconducting Flywheel Power Risk Management System submitted by a team led by Boeing Phantom Works, Seattle, Wash. Other team members are Praxair Speciality Ceramics (Woodinville, Wash.), Ashman Technologies (Calif.), Mesoscopic Devices - Boulder Cryogenics subsidiary (Broomfield, Colo.), Southern California Edison (Rosemead, Calif.), and Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne, Ill.). The 35 kilowatt-hour system uses low loss superconducting bearings to provide an efficient device that manages both cost and reliability risks. It has potential applications for zero-emission, silent, efficient, electricity generation (when charged) in distributed energy systems as well as for power quality control at end-user facilities. Approximate Funding: DOE $7.3 million; private $7.4 million Pre-Production High Temperature Superconducting Reciprocating Magnetic Separator submitted by a team led by DuPont Company, Wilmington, Del. Other team members are Carpo Division of Outokumpu (Jacksonville, Fla.) and J. M. Huber Corporation (Atlanta, Ga.). A superconducting reciprocating magnetic separator is proposed to improve energy efficiency by more than a 90% over conventional technology in the minerals and chemicals separation and purification industries. Approximate Funding: DOE $4.1million; private $4.5 million Media Contact: Tom Welch, 202/586-5806 Release No. R-01-161 ***************************************************************** 17 Embassy staff withdrawn - DAWN - Top Stories; 25 September, 2001 By Faraz Hashmi ISLAMABAD, Sept 24: Pakistan for security reasons has withdrawn all its staff from its embassy in Kabul and consulates in some other cities of Afghanistan, a foreign office spokesman said on Monday. Since the US was hit by terror blitz, Islamabad had been maintaining a skeleton staff comprising about a dozen officers at the embassy in Kabul but that too was called back last week, Foreign Office Spokesman Riaz Muhammad Khan said at a news briefing. He said the staff had been pulled out in three different phases. First, the ambassador was called back. Then, soon after the terror attacks in the US, the staff was thinned and, finally, all the staff was withdrawn last week, the spokesman added. When asked whether the staff withdrawal could be considered as severing of diplomatic relations, Mr Khan pointed out that Afghan ambassador was still in Islamabad. He disclosed that a three-member US defence team, which he described as a "preliminary delegation" led by a two-star general, arrived in the federal capital early on Monday morning. The team, he said, had arrived with the objective of "information gathering," and was busy negotiating with its counterpart. Through interaction with the US team, Pakistan would have an idea about the US plans and "what they are interested in," he said. Independent reports, however, said the delegation had arrived on Saturday evening. The FO spokesman confirmed that another delegation was expected but gave no date of its arrival. To a question whether the US army had already established bases on Pakistani soil, he replied with an emphatic 'no'. He said that another high-powered EU delegation was arriving here on Tuesday morning. The delegation, led by Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, would meet President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar. The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2001 ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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